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Purchased  by  the  Hamill  Missionary  Fund, 


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Section  >■  Gr  3 . 


ARMENI 


A  Martyr  Nation 


A  Historical  Sketch  of  the  Armenian  People 
from  Traditional  Times  to  the 
Present  Tragic  Days 


BY 

M.  C.  GABRIELIAN 

Author  of 

“The  Armenians,  or  the  People  of  Ararat,”  “The  Armenian 
Question  and  the  Massacres  of  the  Christians” 


New  York  Chicago  Toronto 

Fleming  H.  Revell  Company 

London  and  Edinburgh 


and 


Copyright,  1918,  by 

FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


New  York :  1 58  Fifth  Avenue 

Chicago  :  17  North  Wabash  Ave. 
Toronto  :  25  Richmond  Street,  W. 
London:  21  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh :  100  Princes  Street 


DEDICATED 


TO 

tjfye  af  tlje  jltartgrs 

OF 

1915  AND  1916 


INTRODUCTION 


f  |  ^  HE  history  of  Armenia  is  a  history  at  once 
ancient,  romantic,  tragic  and  instructive. 
One  of  the  peoples  early  mentioned  in  the 
Old  Testament,  the  Armenians  have  maintained 
themselves  for  thousands  of  years,  in  a  region  close 
to  the  birthplace  of  mankind  and  associated  his¬ 
torically  with  the  greatest  of  the  cataclysms  which 
have  afflicted  the  world,  the  Noahic  Deluge.  That 
God,  in  His  providence,  should  have  preserved  them 
as  a  people  through  so  many  centuries  and  amidst 
such  changeful  circumstances  of  peace  and  war,  joy 
and  sorrow,  suggests  that  the  Nation  has  yet  before 
it  an  important  mission  in  connection  with  the  des¬ 
tinies  of  Western  Asia.  The  present  great  World 
Conflict  has  brought  the  Armenians  through  the  per¬ 
secutions  and  martyrdoms  which  they  have  endured 
from  the  cruel  and  heartless  Turkish  Government, 
very  close  to  the  hearts  of  Americans.  They  appeal 
to  our  people  on  the  basis  of  race,  for  they  are  sub¬ 
stantially  Indo-Europeans;  on  the  basis  of  faith, 
for  they  were  the  first  of  Christian  Nations;  and 
on  the  basis  of  Humanity,  for  their  indescribable 
sufferings  have  evoked  the  sympathies  of  the  world. 

The  author  of  the  History  of  Armenia,  as  exhibited 
in  this  volume,  the  Reverend  M.  C.  Gabrielian,  M.D., 

5 


6 


Introduction 


is  a  native  of  Armenia,  was  first  trained  in  the  Amer¬ 
ican  Mission  at  Marsovan,  Asia  Minor,  came  to  the 
United  States  in  1881,  and  completed  his  theological 
studies  at  Princeton  Theological  Seminary,  Prince¬ 
ton,  H.  J.,  in  1888.  He  then  took  up  a  course  of 
study  at  Jefferson  Medical  College,  Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania,  and  received  in  1892  the  degree  of 
Doctor  of  Medicine.  It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to 
write  this  brief  foreword  to  the  History,  congratu¬ 
lating  the  author  upon  the  excellence  of  his  work. 

(Signed)  William  Henry  Roberts. 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 


PREFACE 


BOOK-WRITING  is  neither  a  profession  nor 
a  passion  with  me.  But  a  former  attempt, 
on  a  small  scale,  was  so  favorably  received  by 
the  public,  that  I  conceived  the  thought  that  a  brief 
history  of  the  Armenians,  the  first  Christian  Nation 
in  the  world,  who  have,  for  centuries,  swelled  the 
noble  army  of  martyrs,  would  fill  a  gap  that  much 
needed  filling. 

Although  born  an  Armenian,  I  am  also  an  Ameri¬ 
can  by  adoption  and,  having  a  deep  conviction  and  a 
desire  to  “do  my  bit/7  I  thought  I  could  probably 
better  serve  the  cause  of  justice  and  humanity  by 
devoting  considerable  space  in  setting  forth  in  order 
the  Turkish  Government's  atrocities,  both  during  the 
reign  of  Abdul  Hamid  and  under  the  rule  of  the 
Young  Turks,  since  that  unhappy  government  became 
a  tool  in  the  hands  of  the  intolerable  German  power. 
The  rulers  of  Turkey,  the  Young  Turks,  have  learned 
of  late  from  their  Prussian  masters,  both  by  precept 
and  example,  a  barbaric  tyranny  which  utterly  sur¬ 
passes  that  of  their  Mongol  predecessors. 

In  order  to  make  this  volume  of  permanent  value, 
I  have  endeavored  to  consult  all  available  and  au¬ 
thentic  sources  of  information,  both  ancient  and 
modern. 


7 


8 


Preface 


I  prayerfully  hope  that  this  hook  will  he  the  last 
to  speak  of  the  deplorable  condition  of  the  Armenian 
people;  that  the  next  writer  will  he  able  to  describe 
the  happy  and  prosperous  state  of  the  country  and 
its  people.  For  surely  God  in  His  good  providence, 
has  raised  the  mighty  Nations  in  defence  of  the  op¬ 
pressed  small  ones  to  secure  for  them  inalienable 
rights,  protection,  justice  and  liberty. 


Philadelphia,  Pa. 


M.  C.  G. 


CONTENTS 


chapter  page 

I.  Armenia .  17 


Mohammedan  Intolerance — Location  and  Boundary  of  Ancient 
Armenia —  Divisions —  Earliest  Name — Mountains — Volcanic 
Action  and  Earthquakes — Mt.  Ararat — The  Garden  of  Eden — 
Beauty  of  Scenery — Rivers — Lakes — Altitude  and  Climate- 
Fertility — Flowers,  Birds  and  Animals — Mines  and  Mineral 
Springs — Ancient  and  Modern  Cities — Suffering  under  Turkish 
Rule — England’s  Responsibility — Hope  for  a  Bright  Future. 

II.  The  Armenians . . .  37 

Ancestry  Traced  to  Scriptural  Progenitor — Traditional  Origin 
of  Name — The  First  Battle  for  Liberty — Early  Kings — Testimony 
from  Cuneiform  Inscriptions — Relation  to  Contemporaneous 
Nations— Babylonia— Assyria— The  Medo-Persian  Empire — Mace¬ 
donia — Parthia — Names  and  Derivations — Tigranes  the  Great — 
Roman  Ascendancy — Armenians  Continued  Struggle  for  Inde¬ 
pendence — The  First  Christian  Prince. 

III.  The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Armenians .  59 

Primitive  Religion  a  Pure  Monotheism  in  Patriarchal  Form — 
Abraham — Melchizadek — The  Bible  Not  a  Universal  History — 
Human  Tendency  Toward  Retrogression — Divine  Aid  Necessary 
for  True  Progress — Influence  of  Surrounding  Nations — Assyrian 
Idolatry — The  Pantheism  of  Babylon — Semitic  Theological  Con¬ 
ceptions — Zoroastrianism — The  Magi — Armenia  Affected  by 
Grecian  Polytheism  but  not  by  Roman  Deification  of  Her 
Emperors. 

IV.  The  Conversion  of  the  Armenians .  65 

The  Religious  Condition  of  the  World  at  the  Time  of  Christ’s 
Birth — Christianity  Carried  to  Armenia  by  Three  of  the  Apostles 
— An  Early  Tradition  of  the  Armenian  Church — The  King’s 
Decree  that  “Henceforth  the  Religion  of  Christ  is  the  Religion 
of  Armenia” — St.  Gregory,  “The  Illuminator,”  Ordained  Bishop 
of  Armenia — Idol  Temples  Pulled  Down — Christian  Training 
and  Literatures — Translation  of  Old  and  New  Testaments — > 
Perisan  Oppression  and  Armenian  Loyalty  and  Bravery — A  Des¬ 
perate  Struggle — Address  of  the  Armenian  Commander-in-Chief 
— The  Army  of  the  Holy  League — A  Desertion — Confusion  and 
Discouragement — A  Hymn  of  High  Resolve — Persian  Conquest 

9 


10 


Contents 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

and  Oppression — Armenian  Faithfulness  to  Principle — Terms 
of  Peace  Leading  to  an  Edict  of  Toleration — A  Period  of  Tran¬ 
quillity. 

V.  Conflicting  Forces .  80 

Changes  Among  the  Nations — Division  of  Roman  Empire — 
Constantinople — Political  and  Religious  Facts — Unfortunate  Mis¬ 
understanding  between  Greek  and  Armenian  Christians — Persian 
Attitude — Persecution  and  Division — Rise  and  Spread  of  Mo¬ 
hammedanism — 35,000  Armenian  Captives — Saracen  Policy  of 
Cruelty — Armenia  Humiliated,  but  not  Crushed — Again  Strong 
Independent  Kingdom — A  Period  of  Progress — Mongolian  Tar¬ 
tar  Tribes — A  King  Treacherously  Dethroned — Turkish  Cruelty 
— Armenians  in  Cappadocia  and  Cilicia — Reuben  the  First  of 
Cilicia — The  First  Crusade — Attempt  to  Bring  Armenian  Church 
Under  Control  of  Pope  of  Rome — Genghis  Khan — Capture  of 
Jerusalem  from  Crusaders — Capture  of  Constantinople  by  Cru¬ 
saders — Ignominious  Treatment  of  Christians — Christian  Ar¬ 
menia  Entirely  Surrounded  by  Foes  of  Christianity — The  Country 
Rendered  Desert — An  Opportunity  for  Victory  through  United 
Forces  of  Grecian  and  Armenian  Christianity  Lost — Resultant 
Suffering. 

VI.  The  Armenian  Church .  102 

Apostolic  in  Origin — National  in  Extent — Her  Defense  against 
Zoroastrianism — Oppressed  by  Mohammedans — Formalism  in 
Greek  Church — Roman  Attempt  at  Subordination — The  Election 
and  Ordination  of  Armenian  Bishops — Doctors  of  Theology — 
Customs  of  Armenian  Church — Points  of  Difference  between 
Armenian  and  Roman  Churches — Church  Councils  and  Their 
Decrees — Statement  of  Armenian  Belief — Tribute  to  the  Bible — 
Superiority  of  Armenian  Translation — Greek  Invasion — Saraoen 
Desecration — Loyalty  of  Armenian  Christians  under  Persecution 

VII.  The  Period  of  Subjection .  117 

The  Armenians  in  Cilicia — Mongolian  Invaders — Condition  of 
Western  Asia — Rise  and  Growth  of  Ottoman  Power — The  Stand¬ 
ing  Army — Compulsory  Service  of  Conquered  Christians — A 
Tax  of  Every  Fifth  Child — A  Military  Caste — Extent  of  Turkish 
Empire — Armenian  Exiles — A  New  Calamity — Treachery  and 
Cruelty — “The  Lord  of  Asia” — Crossing  the  Bosphorus — The 
Turkish  Capture  of  Constantinople — All  Europe  Filled  with  Con¬ 
sternation — Luther’s  Hymn  Containing  Prayer  for  Deliverance — 
Divisions  and  Famine — God’s  Purpose  in  Sparing  Armenia — 
Bitterness  between  Turkish  and  Persian  Mohammedans — De¬ 
portation  of  25,000  Families — Comparative  Rest  for  Eighty 
Years — Hope  for  Emancipation — Russia  Offers  Protection — 
Faithless  to  Promises — Rissian  Armies  in  Armenia. 


/ 


\ 


Contents  11 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

VIII.  A  General  Survey .  133 


Armenians  Compared  to  Jews,  because  of  Persecution — Number 
of  Armenians  in  Different  Countries — Description  of  Armenian 
Village  Life — Agricultural  Methods  and  Implements — Patriarchal 
Life — Shepherds — Absence  of  Means  of  Transportation — Various 
Trades  and  Callings — Churches  and  Schools — “The  Anglo- 
Saxons  of  the  East”  Popular  Prejudices  against  the  Armenians 

Armenian  Boats — Armenian  Commerce — Accumulation  of 
Wealth — Jealousy  of  Turks — An  Inscription  from  a  Tomb — Ar¬ 
menian  Constitution  of  1860 — The  General  Assembly — The  Eccle¬ 
siastical  Council  Revocation  of  Constitution  in  Turkish  Armenia 
(Aug.  12,  1916) — The  Armenians  in  Western  Persia — Russia  and 
the  Armenians — The  Armenians  of  the  Aryan  Race — Testimony 
of  the  Language — Armenian  Literature — Catholic  and  Protestant 
Missionaries  and  Impetus  to  Education — Armenians  in  Schools 
and  Colleges  of  the  World — An  Armenian  Poem. 

IX.  The  Reformed  Church .  153 

Condition  of  Church  which  Needed  Reformation — Roman 
Catholic  Missionaries — Catholic  Armenian  Church — Effect  upon 
Armenian  of  the  European  Reformation — Work  of  the  British 
and  Russian  Bible  Societies — American  Missionaries — “An  Ori¬ 
ental  Melancthon”  Translation  of  New  Testament  into  Arrneno- 
Turkish  Need  of  Wise  Leadership — Roman  and  Greek  Oppo¬ 
sition  Attitude  of  American  Board  of  Foreign  Missions — A 
Turkish  Pledge  Unkept — A  Separate  Organization — New 
Churches — Progress  of  the  Reformation — Preaching  Tours — 
Family  Worship — A  Seminary  for  Women — Anathemas  upon 
the  “Heretics” — The  Crimean  War — An  Edict  of  Equality  Ren¬ 
dered  Null  and  Void — Continued  Persecution — Growth  of  Evan¬ 
gelical  Churches  and  Doctrine — Statistics  of  the  Work  for  1914. 

X.  Causes  of  Progress,  and  Hindrances .  169 

I.  The  Bible.  Armenian  Reverence  for  the  Word  of  God — 
Translations — Co-operation  between  Bible  Societies  and  Mission¬ 
aries — Personal  Experiences — A  Refusal  Turned  to  a  Blessing  is 
Disguise — “The  Two  Edged  Sword” — Banishment  by  Turks, 
for  Carrying  a  Scripture  Test  in  Armenian.  II.  Education: 
Ancient  Centers  of  Learning — Turkish  Destruction — Activity  of 
Armenian  Press  in  Seventeenth  Century — Work  of  the  Enemies 
of  Protestantism — Revival  of  Learning  in  1835 — The  Seminary 
at  Bebek — The  English  Language  Proscribed — Discussion  and 
Opposition — Armenians  Going  Abroad  for  College  Training — 
Personal  Mention  of  Men  Who  Had  Excelled — The  Advantages  of 
General  Culture — List  of  Native  Colleges  and  Seminaries — Stand¬ 
ing  at  Beginning  of  War.  III.  Christian  Literature:  Trans¬ 
lation  of  Bible  Followed  by  that  of  Other  Books — The  Mission 


12 


Contents 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

Press — A  Means  of  Helping  Students.  IV.  Medical  Work: 
Limited  Knowledge  of  Early  Native  Physicians — Meaning  of 
Christ’s  Commission — Mission  Hospital  Work  at  Beginning  of 
War — Letter  from  Dr.  Barton.  Hindrances:  Poverty  of  Prot¬ 
estant  Communities — The  Mohammedan  Government. 

XI.  The  Armenian  Question . . .  186 

The  Question  Not  a  New  One — Resistance  of  Zoroastrianism— 

Of  Mohammedanism — Of  Pagan-Mohammedanism — Turkish 
Misrule — “Tears  of  Armenia” — Cause  of  the  Russo-Turkish 
War- — “The  Infidels  Must  be  Killed” — Testimony  of  an  Eye¬ 
witness — The  Treaty  of  San  Stefano  (1878) — Promises  of  Reform 
— Anglo-Turkish  Convention  of  Cypress — The  Treaty  of  Berlin — 
England’s  Contract  with  Turkey — Disturbance  among  Kurds — 

The  Abandonment  of  the  Cause  of  Justice — Arms  Denied  the 
Armenians,  but  Granted  All  Others — The  Turkish  “Court  of 
Mockery” — Correspondence  of  the  London  Daily  News — Re¬ 
vision  of  the  Treaty  of  Berlin — England’s  Responsibility — State¬ 
ment  of  the  Armenian  Question — Turkish  Disregard  for  Pledged 
Treaty — Indifference  of  Other  Nations — An  Instance  of  Cruelty — 
Simply  One  of  Many — “A  Revolutionary  Poem.” 

XII.  The  Gospel  and  the  Koran .  204 

Growing  Indications  of  Turkish  Misrule — Underlying  Causes — 
Teachings  of  Christ  and  of  Mohammed  Contrasted — The  Atti¬ 
tudes  of  Each  Toward  Women — Toward  Holiness — Toward 
Forms  and  Ceremonies — The  Revival  of  Mohammedanism 
Means  the  Suppression  of  All  Other  Religions — The  Sword  of  the 
Prophet — Choice  of  Islam,  Slavery  or  Death— A  Mohammedan 
Prayer — Impossible  for  a  Mohammedan  to  Keep  Promises — War 
on  All  Infidels,  Commanded — Subjugation  of  a  Jewish  Colony — 
Division  of  the  Spoils. 

XIII.  Massacre  of  the  Christians . . .  212 

Faithfulness,  at  What  Cost? — The  Greek  Revolution — In  the 
Island  of  Chios — An  Explorer’s  Description  of  an  Assault — 
Massacre  in  Syria  in  1860 — Scenes  in  Damascus — Letter  from 
American  Consul-General — Correspondence  in  London  Times— 
Testimony  of  American  Missionaries — A  Noted  Change  of  Senti¬ 
ment — Sultan  Abdul  Hamid — A  False  Accusation — Condoning 
Injustice — An  Armenian  Revolution  Impossible  and  Absurd — 
Kurdish  Chiefs  Armed  for  Suppression — A  Medioal  Missionary’s 
Letter— Who  Posted  the  Placards? — Two  College  Professors 
Unjustly  Imprisoned — Moslem  Mobs  in  Possession  of  Csesarea — 
Official  Reports  of  Turkish  Outrages — Rev.  Father  Endeavor 
Clark’s  Experiences — So-called  "Agitators” — Result  of  Trial — 

Why  Their  Anchors  Could  Not  be  Lifted — Enquiry  in  the  English 


Contents 


13 


CHAPTER 


PAGE 


House  of  Commons — Memonial  Sent  by  the  Society  of  Friends 
to  the  Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs — Reply  to  Memorial 
A  Difference  of  Opinion. 


XIV.  The  Massacre  at  Sassoun . 235 

Location  and  People  of  Sassoun — Vexatious  Conditions — Self- 
defense  Miscalled  Insurrection — A  Cruel  Order — Harrowing  De¬ 
tails  of  Massacre — An  “Agitator’s”  Appeal  to  the  Sultan  and 
Reward  for  Service  Rendered — England’s  Position — Armenian 
Mothers — Turkish  Attempt  to  Conceal  Facts — Denial  of  Truth¬ 
fulness  of  Report  of  British  Vice-Consul — Mohammedanism  and 
Barbarism — Sultan’s  Refusal  to  Receive  President  Cleveland’s 
Appointed  Representation  of  the  U.  S. — The  Sui*°n’s  Commis¬ 
sion  and  Its  Work — How  the  Result  was  Received  by  Other 
Nations — A  Humiliating  Failure — Address  of  Hon.  W.  E.  Glad¬ 
stone — Rupture  between  Turkish  and  European  Commissioners — 
Report  of  European  Delegates — A  Just  Request  Refused. 


XV.  The  Massacres  op  1895-6 .  250 

A  Scheme  of  Reform  Presented  by  the  British,  French,  and 
Russian  Governments — The  Sultan’s  Promise — Unfulfilled — 
Abdul  Hamid  II — The  Truth  about  Armenia — Biased  Statements 
of  the  German  Press — Turkey’s  Uncertainty  as  to  the  Action 
of  the  Powers,  an  Encouragement  to  Her  Misrule — Refusal  to 
Receive  an  Armenian  Petition — Letter  from  an  American  Resident 
of  Constantinople — Statistical  Table  of  the  Massacres  of  1895-6 — 
Summary — A  War  of  Desolation — Pretense  of  “Suppressing  a  Rev¬ 
olution”  “Horrible  Details  of  Butchery” — Churches  Invaded 
and  Burned — Indignities  to  Women  and  Girls — Many  of  Them 
Commit  Suicide — A  Daughter’s  Sacrifice — Germany’s  Friendship — 
Quotation  from  a  German  Paper — Dr.  Lapsius’  Reply — More 
Statistics — Compulsory  Conversions  to  Mohammedanism — In¬ 
dividual  Instances  of  Faithfulness — Faithfulness  to  Christ  Re¬ 
ported  as  Obstinacy — At  Csesarea — Report  of  the  British  Vice- 
Consul  Work  of  Miss  Corinna  Shattuck — Other  Missionaries 
Give  Personal  Experiences — Atrocities  of  Soldiers  and  Officers — 
England’s  Professed  Inability  to  Act — The  Massacre  at  Con¬ 
stantinople — Plans  Known  to  Turkish  Government  and  Made 
Occasion  of  Outbreak — Persecution  Following  Worse  in  Its  Effects 
than  Massacre  Itself — “Conduct  of  European  Powers  ” — Result 
of  a  Disagreement — Germany  Seeking  Expansion — Emperor’s 
Tribute  to  Mohammedanism. 


XVI.  The  Revolution  and  Massacres  at  Adana,  1908-9  282 

The  Enemies  of  the  Sultan — Demand  for  the  Restoration  of  the 
Constitution — Abdul  Hamid’s  Insincere  Acquiescence — Joy  of 
the  People — Instigation  to  Mutiny — The  Night  of  April  13,  1909 
— Character  of  the  Sultan’s  Success — The  Young  Turks  Take 


14 


Contents 


FAGS 


CHAPTER 

Possession  of  the  Palace  of  the  Sultan — Abdul  Hamid  Sent  into 
Exile — Mohammedan  Massacre  of  Christians — Disease  and 
Starvation  Follow  in  Wake  of  Murder— Letter  from  Wife  of 
British  Consul  of  Adana — Kessab — Testimony  of  President  of 
St.  Paul’s  Institute  at  Tarsus — Turkish  Determination  to  Anni¬ 
hilate  the  Armenians — “The  Armenian  Question”  a  One  Sided 
One — Under  Mohammedan  Rule  Reform  Impossible. 


XVII.  The  Reign  of  the  Young  Turk.  . . . 

Mohammed  V. — Divisions  of  Empire  for  Administrative  Pur¬ 
poses — Troublesome  Times  for  the  Young  Turks — Surrounding 
Peoples — The  Bosnians  and  Servians — Austro-Hungarians — The 
Bulgarian’s  Declaration  of  Independence  Turco-Italian  Whr 
The  First  Balkan  War  and  Its  Results — Second  Balkan  War 
Reverses  of  the  Young  Turks — Plan  to  Use  Armenians  to  In¬ 
stigate  a  Revolt— Offers  of  Reward  Refused— Modified  Demands 
on  the  Armenians — Still  Refused — A  Peaceful  Endeavor. 


XVIII.  The  Massacres  of  1915-16 . 

Why  the  Young  Turks  Declared  War — Reasons  for  the  Beginning 
of  the  Massacres — A  Draft  of  Armenians  with  the  Army — Dis¬ 
armed  and  Made  to  Work  on  the  Roads — Turkish  Proclamation 
of  “A  Holy  War” — A  Holy  War  Explained — Proclamation  Fa¬ 
vorably  Received  by  Mohammedans  Everywhere — Suffering 
Syrian  Christians — “A  Price  on  Every  Christian  Head” — 
Consequences — Letter  from  a  Medical  Missionary  Heart¬ 
rending  Scenes — A  Catholic  Priest  WLo  Refuses  to  Confess 
Mohammed  as  God’s  Prophet  and  His  Fate — Report  of  Dr. 
Vanneman — Urumia — Native  Christian  Preachers  Crucified — 
Inhabitants  of  Van  Resist — Timely  Arrival  of  Russian  Forces — 
Succor  only  Temporary — Turks  and  Kurds  Return  Suppress¬ 
ing  Armenian  Rebellion” — Turkish  Treachery  Scenes  along  the 
Road — Christians  Held  in  Prison  and  then  Slain  Atrocities  Mis¬ 
called  “Justifiable  and  Necessary  Measures” — Wholesale  Drown- 
ings — ••  Turkey  for  the  Turks” — Testimony  of  Dr.  Herbert  Adams 
Gibbons — The  Turks  not  Satisfied  with  Less  than  the  Complete 
Extermination  of  all  Who  Oppose  Mohammedanism. 

XIX.  The  Deportations  of  1915-16 . 

Deportation  and  Its  Consequences:  Orders  from  Con¬ 
stantinople-German  Influence— No  Exceptions  to  be  Made- 
Reasons  for  Scheme  of  Transportation — A  Procession  of  Doomed 
Victims— Unparalleled  Savagery— Character  of  Armenian  People— 
Turks  Encourage  Armenian  Organizations  which,  Later,  They 
Brand  as  “  Revolutionary  ”—“  The  Blackest  Page  in  Modern 
History” — Five  Hundred  Men  Imprisoned  in  an  Armenian 
Church — Awaiting  Orders  to  March  into  Exile — Allowed  to  Take 


Contents 


15 


CHAPTBB  PAGE 

but  Few  Possessions — Searching  Out  Armenian  Names — The 
Procession  as  Seen  from  a  College  Compound — A  Hopeless  Jour¬ 
ney  of  a  Thousand  Miles — Forced  to  Abandon  Food  and  Bedding 
on  the  Road — Uncertainty  of  the  Fate  of  Loved  Ones — The  Minds 
of  Some  Become  Unbalanced — Boys  and  Girls  Sold  to  Moham- 
edans  to  be  Reared  in  that  Faith — Two  Girls  Sold  for  Eighty 
Cents  a  Loyal  Priest  of  Ninety — Women  and  Girls  Carried  off 
to  an  Unknown  Fate — At  the  Euphrates  River — A  Faithful 
Teacher  Accompanies  Her  School  Girls  on  Their  Way  to  Exile — 
Extracts  from  Her  Letters — “Getting  Accustomed  to  Being 
Robbed” — Exiles  from  Tocat — Men  Tied  Together  for  Execution 
Overtaking  Those  Who  Had  Fallen  by  the  Way  from  Former 
Deportations — Not  Allowed  to  Go  Further — No  Later  Word  from 
Her  Companions — Dual  Orders  Issued  from  Constantinople:  One 
to  be  Made  Public,  the  Other  to  Deal  with  Armenians. 

XX.  Camps  of  Refuge,  1915-17 .  332 

Physical  Suffering  Compared  with  the  Deeper  Anguish  of  Mind 
and  Heart — Why  the  Young  Turks  Continued  Their  Barbarity — 

An  American  Missionary’s  Experience — Martyrdom  of  First 
Christian  Century  Compared  with  Scenes  in  1915 — An  American 
Woman’s  Appeal  Unheeded — Absurdity  of  Turkish  Excuse — In¬ 
efficiency  of  Armenian  Defense — Cilician  Armenians  Disarmed 
by  Misrepresentation— Evacuated  Homes  Given  to  Mohammedan 
Refugees — More  than  20,000  Armenians  Forced  to  Emigrate  from 
One  Province — An  Almost  Miraculous  Escape — "  Christiana  in 
Distress.  Rescue!" — The  Third  Stage  of  the  Turk’s  Plan  of  Ex¬ 
termination:  “Agricultural  Colonies ’’—Most  Undesirable  Sites 
Chosen — A  Thousand  Families  with  only  Fifty  Grown  Men — 
Unwholesome  Climatic  Influences — Scenes  in  the  Refugee  Camps 
— American  Embassy  Refused  Permission  to  Carry  Help — The 
Sufferings  of  Shelterless  Exiles — The  Unburied  Dead — Epidemic 
of  Typhoid  Fever — Exhausted  Exiles  Driven  Forward  at  Point 
of  Soldiers’  Bayonets — What  a  Missionary  Saw — Distributing 
Bread  to  the  Hungry — Children  Sold  to  Prevent  Starvation — 

580  Buried  in  One  Day — A  Town  in  the  Desert — Instant  Death 
Preferred  to  Long  Suffering — A  Protest  from  German  Mission¬ 
aries — Heart-rending  Scenes — Massacres  Still  Going  On — Late 
News — Present  Conditions — Accessories  to  Turks’  Crime — 
U.S.A.  Entering  into  tha  Conflict.  Encouraging  Signs— God  rules. 


Map 


352 


A  CRY  FROM  ARMENIA 


By  Ellen  M.  Mitchell 
(The  New  Armenia) 

Through  all  this  golden  sunshine  there  peals  a  mournful  cry, 
Help,  help  us,  or  we  perish — help,  help  us,  or  we  die! 

Our  babes  are  begging  wildly  for  one  small  crust  of  bread, 

They  faint,  they  die  with  hunger — is  there  a  God  o’erhead? 

Oh,  haste  with  friendly  succor,  we  are  starving  while  we  wait, 
To  thousands  sinking  graveward  your  help  may  come  too  late; 
Our  gaunt  forms  totter  feebly;  our  lips  grow  wan  and  white, 

Oh,  God,  how  hard  it  is  to  starve  beneath  a  sky  so  bright! 

Your  hearths  are  crowned  with  plenty,  your  homes  with  blessings 
rife; 

The  scattered  crumbs  that  strew  your  floor  might  save  a  human 
life; 

Oh,  can  you  hear,  unmoved  and  calm,  of  all  our  bitter  needf 
Nor  feel  your  quivering  heart-strings  with  throbs  of  pity  bleed? 

Dear  brethren,  would  ye  follow  Christ,  our  starving  children  save, 
Keep  back  the  shuddering  feet  that  tread  the  margin  of  the  grave; 
Send  on  your  bounty  quickly,  with  timely  comfort  haste, 

For  human  lives  are  ebbing  out  each  moment  that  you  waste. 


16 


13 


AKMENIA 

WITHIN  the  last  few  years  Armenia  has  been 
attracting  the  attention  of  the  civilized 
and  Christian  world.  Those  parts  of 
Armenia,  which  were  in  the  Turkish  and  Persian 
empires,  have  been  turned  by  the  devotees  of  the 
Mohammedan  faith  into  altars  upon  which  human 
sacrifices  have  been  offered.  Yea,  not  only  the  Turk¬ 
ish  and  Persian  Armenia  but  also  the  whole  of  Asia 
Minor,  and  in  fact  every  city,  town,  and  village  in 
the  Turkish  Empire  where  Armenians  were  found, 
the  high  priests  and  low  priests  of  Islam  were  in¬ 
tensely  engaged  in  the  slaughter  of  the  Christians 
as  sacrifices  acceptable  to  Allah.  It  is  a  lamentable 
fact  that  according  to  the  teaching  of  Mohammed 
the  severer  the  Mohammedan  is  to  his  unbelieving 
or  non-Mohammedan  neighbor  the  greater  will  be 
his  reward,  and  the  better  his  position  in  paradise. 

It  may  not,  therefore,  be  amiss  if  we  say  a  few 
words  about  the  original  and  ancestral  home  of 
the  Armenians,  whence  they  have  been  at  times 
driven  and  scattered  throughout  the  Mohammedan 
dominions  and  have  become  the  victims  of  cruelty  and 
massacre  for  ages. 


17 


18  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

Armenia  lies  directly  north  of  Mesopotamia.  It 
is  bounded  on  the  north  by  the  Caucasian  Mountains, 
on  the  south  by  the  Mesopotamian  plains,  on  the 
east  it  extends  to  the  Caspian  Sea  and  Media  and  on 
the  west  to  the  Black  Sea  and  Asia  Minor.1 

Its  boundaries  varied  at  different  times.  Accord¬ 
ing  to  the  native  historians,  the  country  reached 
its  greatest  extent  under  the  reigns  of  the  Kings 
Aram  and  Tigranes  II.  The  former  is  mentioned 
by  the  Assyrian  kings,  the  latter  was  well-known  in 
the  first  century  b.c.  “It  (Armenia)  varied  in  ex¬ 
tent  at  different  epochs,  but  it  may  be  regarded  as 
lying  between  lat.  36°  50'  and  41°  41'  NT.,  and  Ion. 
36°  20'  and  48°  40'  E.”  It  must  have  been  be¬ 
tween  six  and  seven  hundred  miles  from  east  to 
west  and  from  two  hundred  and  fifty  to  three  hun¬ 
dred  miles  from  north  to  south. 

The  country  of  Armenia  was  divided  into  two 
main  divisions,  namely,  Armenia  Major  and  Ar¬ 
menia  Minor,  or  the  Greater  and  Less  Armenia. 
Greater  Armenia  which  comprised  the  larger  part 
of  the  country  extended  from  the  eastern  boundary 
to  the  Euphrates  river,  and  Armenia  Minor  extended 
from  the  Euphrates  to  Asia  Minor.  This  ancient 
river  thus  made  a  dividing  line  between  the  two 
main  divisions  of  the  country.  Armenia  Major  was 
again  divided  into  fifteen  provinces. 

Armenia  is  a  highland  from  4000  to  7000  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  sea.  Its  surface  is  undulated 

1  Pliny  agrees  with  the  Armenian  historians  in  bringing  the  eastern 
boundary  to  the  Caspian  Sea,  and  Herodotus  makes  Armenia  to  border 
on  Cappadocia  and  Cilicia. 


Armenia 


19 


with  beautiful  dells  and  hills,  with  fertile  valleys 
and  forest  covered  mountains,  with  richly  produc¬ 
tive  and  extensive  plains  and  pasture  lands,  and  lofty 
snow- capped  mountains  with  glittering  snowy  peaks, 
piercing  the  clear  blue  sky. 

The  highest  mountain  of  western  Asia  is  situated 
at  the  center  of  Armenia.  It  is  the  Mount  Masis 
of  the  natives,  and  Mount  Ararat  of  the  Europeans, 
and  is  of  unsurpassed  beauty,  magnificence  and 
grandeur.  No  traveler  has  ever  yet  seen  it  and 
not  spoken  of  it  with  admiration.  “The  impression 
made  by  Ararat  upon  the  mind  of  every  one  who  has 
any  sensibility  of  the  stupendous  works  of  the  Cre¬ 
ator,  is  wonderful  and  overpowering,  and  many  a 
traveler  of  genius  and  taste  has  employed  both  the 
power  of  the  pen  and  of  the  pencil  in  attempting 
to  portray  this  impression,  but  the  consciousness  that 
no  description,  no  representation  can  reach  the  sub¬ 
limity  of  the  object  thus  attempted  to  be  depicted, 
must  prove  to  the  candid  mind  that  whether  we 
address  the  ear  or  eye,  it  is  difficult  to  avoid  the 
poetic  in  expression  and  exaggeration  in  form,  and 
confine  ourselves  strictly  within  the  bound  of  con¬ 
sistency  and  truth. 

“Nothing  can  be  more  beautiful  than  its  shape, 
more  awful  than  its  height.  All  the  surrounding 
mountains  sink  into  insignificance  when  compared 
to  it.  It  is  perfect  in  all  its  parts;  no  hard  rugged 
features,  no  unnatural  prominence;  everything  is  in 
harmony,  and  all  combined  to  render  it  one  of  the 
sublimest  objects  in  nature. 


20  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

“The  fabric  of  Ararat  composes  an  elliptic  figure 
with  an  axis  from  northwest  to  southeast.  The  base 
plan  measures  about  twenty-eight  miles  in  length, 
and  about  twenty-three  miles  in  width.  The  fabric 
is  built  up  by  two  mountains.  Greater  Ararat 
(16,916  feet  above  the  sea)  and  Little  Ararat 
(12,840  feet  above  the  sea).  Their  bases  are  con¬ 
tiguous  at  a  level  of  8800  feet,  and  their  summits 
are  seven  miles  apart.  Both  are  due  to  eruptive 
volcanic  action;  but  no  eruption  of  Ararat  is  known 
to  have  occurred  during  the  historical  period,  and 
the  summit  of  the  greater  mountain  presents  all  the 
appearance  of  a  very  ancient  and  much  worndown 
volcano  with  a  central  chimney  or  vent,  long  since 
filled  in.”  1 

From  this  central  plateau,  the  highest  mountain 
in  Armenia,  the  land  slopes  down  in  all  directions. 
On  the  south  it  inclines  toward  the  Lake  of  Van 
and  the  plains  of  Mush ;  on  the  east  toward  the  lower 
valley  of  Araxes,  on  the  north  to  the  middle  valley 
of  Araxes,  and  on  the  northeast  and  east  toward 
the  plains  of  Kars  and  Erzerum.  “Along  the  line 
of  the  fortieth  degree  of  latitude  a  succession  of 
plains  extend  across  the  tableland,  varying  in  their 
depression  below  the  higher  levels,  watered  by  the 
Araxes  and  by  the  upper  course  of  the  western 
Euphrates,  and  each  giving  access  to  the  other  by 
natural  passages.  The  first  is  the  valley  of  the 
Araxes,  with  its  narrower  continuation  westwards 
through  the  district  between  Kagyzman  and  Khora- 

1  Lynch,  “Armenia,  Travels  and  Studies’’;  Vol.  I.  pp.  197-8.  London,  1901. 


Armenia 


21 


san;  the  second  is  the  plain  of  Pasin;  the  third  the 
plain  of  Erzerum.  Yet  while  the  plains  of  Pasin 
and  Erzerum  are  situated  respectively  at  an  altitude 
of  fifty-five  hundred  feet  and  fifty-seven  hundred  and 
fifty  feet,  the  valley  of  the  Araxes  in  the  neighbor¬ 
hood  of  Erivan  is  only  twenty-eight  hundred  feet 
above  the  sea.  Both  on  the  north  and  south  of  this 
considerable  depression,  even  the  plainer  levels  of  the 
tableland  attain  the  imposing  altitude  of  seven  thou¬ 
sand  feet,  while  its  surface  has  been  uplifted  by 
volcanic  action  into  long  and  irregular  convexities 
of  mountain  and  hill  and  hummock.”  1 

Instances  of  earthquake  are  not  uncommon  but 
fortunately  not  very  frequent.  In  the  early  part 
of  the  eleventh  century  of  the  Christian  era,  King 
J ohn  was  frightened  by  an  earthquake  and  an  eclipse 
of  the  moon  as  forebodings  of  coming  calamity  upon 
his  kingdom  and  capital  Ani.  It  is  believed  by  some 
that  the  isolation  of  the  rock  of  Van  itself  might 
have  been  due  to  some  violent  earthquake  in  the 
remote  past  causing  its  present  separation,  from 
the  heights  adjacent  on  the  east.  “Several  visita¬ 
tions  (earthquake)  of  considerable  severity  have 
probably  occurred  during  the  historical  period,  thus 
we  learn  that  in  the  year  1648  of  the  Christian  era, 
one-half  of  the  wall  of  the  fortified  city,  as  well  as 
churches,  mosques,  and  private  houses  were  shat¬ 
tered  by  successive  shocks,  and  fell  to  the  ground.2 

In  the  beginning  of  the  year  of  our  Lord,  1840, 

1  Lynch,  “Armenia,”  Vol.  I,  p.  146. 

2  Lynch,  “Armenia,”  Vol.  II,  p.  76. 


22  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

there  stood  the  ancient  village  of  Aicori  (vineyards) , 
happy  and  apparently  sheltered  in  the  shadow  of  the 
Armenian  giant.  Not  far  from  the  village  at  the 
foot  of  Mount  Ararat  were  situated  the  old  Mon¬ 
astery  of  St.  James  and  its  numerous  buildings.  But 
on  the  twentieth  of  June,  a  terrible  earthquake 
shook  the  mighty  mountain  from  its  foundations. 
The  avalanche,  of  rocks,  earth,  ice  and  snow  from  the 
mountain  sides,  rushed  swiftly  down  upon  the  village 
and  the  monastery,  the  houses  and  buildings  already 
tottering,  crushed  them  and  buried  the  inhabitants 
alive — about  one  thousand  in  number.  The  cities 
Nakhejevan  and  Erivan  did  not  escape  the  calamity. 
In  both  of  these  cities  also  hundreds  of  houses  were 
thrown  down  and  thousands  of  lives  were  lost. 

The  following  despatch  will  show  that  not  only 
the  sword  and  incendiary  fire  of  the  Turk  has  been 
pursuing  the  poor  Armenian  but  even  the  elements 
of  nature  seem  to  militate  against  his  mundane  ex¬ 
istence.  May  the  good  Lord  save  him  from  suffering 
in  the  hereafter! 

Paris,  May  17,  1891. — “The  Dix-N euvieme  Siecle 
states  that  commercial  advices  have  been  received  at 
Marseilles  from  Trebizond  to  the  effect  that  a  new  vol¬ 
cano  has  appeared  in  Armenia  at  the  summit  of  Mount 
Minrod,  in  the  district  of  Van,  vomiting  forth  flames 
and  lava.  The  villages  at  the  base  of  the  mountain 
have  been  destroyed,  and  many  persons  are  said  to  have 
been  killed  or  injured.  .  .  .  99 

The  earliest  name  of  Armenia  appears  to  be  Ara¬ 
rat;  by  that  name  it  was  known  to  the  ancient 


Armenia 


23 


Hebrews,  Babylonians  and  Assyrians.  We  are 
told,  in  connection  with  the  Deluge,  that  when  the 
waters  of  the  flood  subsided  “the  ark  rested  upon 
the  mountains  of  Ararat.’’  “The  geography  of  Gene¬ 
sis  starts  from  the  north.  It  was  on  the  mountains 
of  Ararat  or  Armenia  that  the  ark  rested,  and  it  was 
accordingly  with  this  region  of  the  world  that  our 
primitive  chart  begins.”  1 

It  was  generally — we  might  say  universally — be¬ 
lieved  by  all  Christians,  almost  of  all  ages,  before 
the  days  of  the  higher  critics,  that  the  Pentateuch 
(the  first  five  books  of  the  Bible)  was  written  by 
Moses.  It  is  not  improbable  that  when  he  composed 
or  compiled  the  book  of  Genesis  he  was  in  possession 
of  oral  traditions  and  traditional  documents,  handed 
down  to  his  time  from  these  sources.  It  is  one  of 
these  older  written  accounts  which  states  that  the 
ark  rested  upon  the  mountains  of  Ararat.  Another 
old  tradition  handed  down  and  preserved  in  writing 
is  that  of  another  Moses.  Moses  of  Khorene,  the 
Armenian  Herodotus,  who  states  that  this  central 
part  of  Armenia  was  formerly  called  Ararat.  The 
author  of  the  Book  of  Genesis  is  accurate  and  precise 
in  his  knowledge  of  the  fact  that  Ararat  is  the  name 
of  the  country  upon  whose  mountains  the  tempest- 
tossed  vessel  of  the  Patriarch  rested.  Whether  his 
knowledge  was  due  to  Divine  inspiration,  or  to  a 
historical  fact  preserved  and  handed  down  to  his  time 
(it  may  be  both),  we  cannot  tell.  But  the  accuracy 
of  the  statement,  which  stood  the  criticisms  of  cen- 

1  Sayce,  “The  Races  of  the  Old  Testament,”  p.  44. 


24  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

turies,  and  especially  this  age  of  criticism,  had  a 
rightful  claim  to  acceptance  by  all. 

Ararat  is  also  mentioned  in  three  other  books 
of  the  Old  Testament,  namely,  II  Kings  19 :  37, 
Isaiah  37:  36,  and  Jeremiah  51:  27.  The  first  two 
passages  are  identical  in  import  and  speak  of  the 
escape  of  Adrammelech  and  Sharezer  “into  the  land 
of  Ararat”  after  having  committed  the  crime  of  pat¬ 
ricide.  In  the  third  passage,  Jeremiah  summons 
the  forces  of  Armenia  to  join  the  Medes  to  overthrow 
Babylon  in  these  words :  “Set  ye  up  a  standard  in  the 
land,  blow  the  trumpet  among  the  nations,  prepare 
the  nations  against  her  (Babylon),  cdl  together 
against  her  the  Kingdoms  of  Ararat,  Minni  and  Ash- 
chenaz.  .  .  .  Prepare  against  her  the  nations  with 
the  Kings  of  the  Medes.” 

The  following  is  from  an  inscription  of  Assur- 
Natsir-Pal  the  King  of  Assyria,  and  the  date  of  his 
reign  is  assigned  by  Prof.  Sayce  from  b.c.  883  to 
858.  “The  cities  of  Khatu,  Khotaru,  Nistun,  Irbidi 
.  .  .  the  cities  of  Qurkhi  which  in  sight  of  the 
mountains,  of  M’su,  Arua  and  Arardhi,  mighty 
mountains,  are  situated,  I  captured.”  Professor 
Sayce  remarks  that  “Arardhi  seems  to  be  the  earliest 
form  of  Urardhu  (of  later  Assyrian  inscriptions), 
the  Biblical  Ararat.”  1 

The  passages  from  the  Bible  and  the  Assyrian  in¬ 
scriptions  show  beyond  doubt  that  Ararat  was  the 
earliest  name  of  Armenia,  and  it  was  not  the  name 

1  Sayce,  “Records  of  the  Past,”  Vol.  II,  p.  140. 


Armenia  25 

of  a  mountain;  and  that  the  ark  of  Noah  rested 
upon  “the  mountains  of”  Ararat  or  Armenia. 

The  great  rivers  of  western  Asia  take  their  origin 
from  the  highlands  of  Armenia.  The  river  Acamp- 
sis  of  the  ancients,  identified  by  some  with  the  Pison 
of  the  Bible,  has  its  source  southwest  of  Erzerum, 
it  receives  several  other  streams  and  with  beautiful 
windings,  flows  into  the  Black  Sea.  About  the 
Araxes,  according  to  some  the  Gihon  of  the  Bible, 
I  find  an  interesting  statement  in  an  Armenian  his¬ 
tory:  “Aramais  (King  of  Armenia)  built  a  city  of 
hewn  stone  on  a  small  eminence  in  the  plain  of  Ara- 
gay,  and  near  the  bank  of  a  river  before  mentioned, 
which  had  received  the  name  of  Gihon.  The  new 
city  which  afterwards  became  the  capital  of  his  king¬ 
dom,  he  called  Armavir,  after  his  name,  and  the  name 
of  the  river  he  changed  to  Arax  after  his  son  Arast.” 
The  river  Araxes  is  fed  and  swollen  by  many 
streams,  rivulets  and  brooks,  which  run  from  the 
sides  of  numerous  glens,  through  picturesque  ravines, 
and  mingle  with  it.  Its  tortuous  course  irrigates 
the  lands  adjacent  carrying  great  fertility,  and  finally 
joins  the  famous  river  Kur  (Cyrus)  and  pours  itself 
into  the  bosom  of  the  Caspian  Sea. 

The  other  two  great  rivers  of  Armenia  Major  are 
the  Euphrates  and  Tigris,  whose  identity  with  those 
mentioned  in  connection  with  the  Garden  of  Eden 
is  beyond  doubt.  Both  of  these  rivers  also  take  their 
origin  in  the  highlands  of  Armenia.  The  Euphrates, 
whose  springs  are  not  very  far  from  Mount  Ararat 
(Masis  of  the  Armenians)  takes  a  westward  course 


26  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

along  the  Taurus  mountain  chain  on  the  northern 
side  of  the  mountain,  runs  north  of  Kharput,  then 
turns  westward,  and  about  forty  miles  west  of  Khar¬ 
put  unites  with  the  western  branch  of  the  Euphrates ; 
near  Malateah  the  river  turns  towards  the  south¬ 
east  and  nearly  approaches  the  sources  of  the  Tigris. 
From  this  point  onward  with  a  southeasterly  course, 
these  rivers  flow  and  finally  they  unite  and  pour  into 
the  Persian  Gulf.  The  students  of  the  ancient  Baby¬ 
lonian  and  Assyrian  history  and  civilization  need  not 
to  be  told  what  fertility  these  rivers  carried  along 
their  course  through  the  Mesopotamian  plain,  and 
how,  with  numerous  canals  and  channels,  they  irri¬ 
gated  the  land  of  these  great  empires,  and  became  the 
means  of  commercial  intercourse  with  the  neighbor¬ 
ing  nations. 

Armenia’s  claim  to  the  possession  of  the  Garden  of 
Eden  within  her  bosom  ought  not  to  be  disputed. 
Indeed  no  other  country  has  attempted  to  contend 
for  this  honor.  Her  natural  beauty,  salubrious  cli¬ 
mate,  her  exuberant  fertility,  the  fragrance  of  her 
flowers,  the  variety  of  her  singing  birds,  above  all  her 
mountainous  bosom  and  overflowing  rivers  through 
which  mighty  waters  run  down  on  her  mountain  sides 
and  fill  the  great  channels,  which  fertilize  the  sub¬ 
jacent  countries  and  replenish  the  two  adjacent  seas 
and  distant  ocean  in  the  south;  all  these  justify  her 
claim,  and  render  it  almost  a  historical  fact,  that 
Armenia  was  the  cradle  of  infant  humanity. 
“Ancient  traditions  place  the  province  of  Eden  in 
this  highest  portion  of  Armenia,  anciently  called  Ara- 


Armenia  27 

rat ;  and  it  appears  to  furnish  all  the  conditions  of 
the  Mosaic  narrative.1  A  distinguished  writer,  well- 
known  in  this  country,  who  had  the  pleasure  of  look¬ 
ing  from  the  top  of  Ararat  over  the  countries  around, 
makes  the  following  remark:  “Below  and  around 
including  in  this  single  view,  seemed  to  lie  the  whole 
cradle  of  the  human  race,  from  Mesopotamia  in  the 
south  to  the  great  wall  of  Caucasus  that  covered  the 
northern  horizon,  Mount  Kaf,  the  boundary  for  so 
many  ages  of  the  civilized  world.  If  it  was  indeed 
here  that  men  set  foot  again  on  the  unpeopled  earth, 
one  could  imagine  how  the  great  dispersion  went  as 
the  races  spread  themselves  from  these  sacred  heights 
along  the  courses  of  the  great  rivers  down  to  the 
Black  and  Caspian  Seas,  and  over  the  Assyrian 
plain  to  the  shores  of  the  Southern  Ocean,  whence 
they  were  wafted  away  to  other  continents  and  isles. 
Ho  more  imposing  center  of  the  earth  could  he 
imagined.”2 

If  variety  makes  beauty,  Armenia  furnishes  such 
a  variety,  making  her  one  of  the  most  beautiful  coun¬ 
tries  in  the  world ;  not  only  has  she  those  gigantic 
mountains  with  their  snow  crowned  heads,  looking 
down  upon  the  clouds  that  envelop  their  skirts  while 
they  mock  at  the  air  and  the  winds,  not  only  has 
she  hundreds  of  murmuring  streams  and  rippling 
brooks,  gliding  along  the  sides  of  thousands  of  hills, 
which  swell  those  kingly  rivers  and  cause  them  to 
overflow  their  banks ;  but  she  has  also  some  beautiful 


1  Van  Lennep,  “Bible  Lands,”  p.  21. 

2  Bryce,  “Transcaucasia  and  Ararat,”  p.  298. 


28  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

lakes  like  jewels  set  in  their  respective  caskets.  The 
Sevan,  which  lies  between  the  Araxes  and  the  Kur 
(Cyrus),  occupies  the  center  of  a  fertile  plain  in  the 
northern  part  of  Armenia  and  is  called  “Sweet 
Lake,”  in  contradistinction  to  the  others  which  are 
salt  water  lakes.  The  Lake  Sevan  is  about  thirtv 
miles  northeast  of  Erivan,  and  is  in  the  Russian 
provinces  of  Armenia.  The  Lake  Urmi,  or  Urumia, 
lies  in  the  southern  and  southeastern  part  of  the 
country,  and  is  now  in  the  Persian  province  of  Ar¬ 
menia.  These  lakes  and  some  others  are  surrounded 
by  magnificent  views,  but  Lake  of  Van,  surpassing 
them  in  size,  in  importance  and  splendor,  will  at¬ 
tract  us  to  linger  with  her  a  little  longer. 

The  area  of  Lake  Van  is  about  fourteen  hundred 
square  miles,  its  surface  is  over  five  thousand  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  sea.  It  is  embosomed  in  the 
center  of  a  rich  and  verdant  plain,  and  this  in  turn 
is  encircled  by  an  exceedingly  beautiful,  romantic, 
undulating  mountain  chain  which  culminates,  on  the 
north,  in  the  sublime  monarch  of  the  mountains  of 
western  Asia,  “The  Armenian  giant  Mount  Ararat.” 

The  beauty  of  Lake  Van  and  its  surroundings 
always  did,  and  will  more  intensely  enchant  the  poets 
and  artists — who  are  more  fortunate  and  enjoy  the 
beauty  of  nature  more  than  the  rest  of  us.  The 
following  is  the  description  of  a  distinguished  ex¬ 
plorer:  “A  range  of  low  hills  now  separated  us  from 
the  plain  and  lake  of  Van.  We  soon  reached  their 
crest  and  a  landscape  of  surpassing  beauty  was  be¬ 
fore  us.  At  our  feet  intensely  blue  and  sparkling 


Armenia  29 

in  the  rays  of  the  sun,  was  the  inland  sea,  with  the 
sublime  peak  of  the  Subbon  Dagh  (mountain)  mir¬ 
rored  in  its  transparent  water.  The  city  (of  Van), 
with  its  castle  crowned  rock  and  its  embattled  walls 
and  towers,  lay  embowered  in  orchards  and  gardens. 
To  our  right,  a  rugged  snow-capped  mountain  opened 
midway  into  an  amphitheater  in  which,  amid  lofty 
trees,  stood  the  Armenian  convent  of  Seven  Churches. 
To  the  west  of  the  lake  was  the  Nimrod  Dagh  and 
the  highlands  nourishing  the  sources  of  the  great 
rivers  of  Mesopotamia.  The  hills  forming  the  fore¬ 
ground  of  our  picture  were  carpeted  with  the  bright¬ 
est  flowers,  over  which  wandered  the  flocks,  while  the 
gaily  dressed  shepherds  gathered  around  as  we 
halted  to  contemplate  the  enchanting  scene.”  1 

Many  a  scene  like  the  above  has  enchanted  the 
foreign  traveler  and  inspired  the  native  authors  and 
poets,  and  caused  the  wandering,  expatriated  sons 
and  daughters  of  Armenia  to  remember  her  former 
glory  and  splendor,  now  marred  by  the  vicissitudes 
of  the  ages  (especially  under  the  iron  heel  of  the 
Turkish  tyranny),  and  in  indescribable  misery  to 
weep,  like  the  ancient  Hebrew  prophet  “Mine  eye 
runneth  down  with  rivers  of  water  for  the  destruc¬ 
tion  of  the  daughter  of  my  people.”  (Lam.  3:48.) 

It  will  be  easily  understood  that  the  climate  of 
Armenia  cannot  be  mild  in  winter  on  account  of  the 
altitude  of  the  country,  which  is  from  four  thousand 
to  seven  thousand  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea. 
In  general  it  is  very  healthful,  but  in  winter  the 


1  Layard,  “  Nineveh  and  Babylon,”  pp.  333-4. 


30  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

cold  is  severe  and  lasts  from  tlie  middle  of  October 
until  the  beginning  of  May.  In  the  valleys  the 
weather  is  mild  and  very  pleasant.  The  summer  is 
short  but  warm,  especially  in  certain  valleys,  which 
are  far  away  from  the  reach  of  the  sea  breeze,  too 
much  enclosed  by  high  mountains  and  too  deep  for 
mountain  air.  “And  while  the  climate  of  the  citv 

t/ 

(Alexandropol)  on  the  Arpa  may  compare  with  St. 
Lawrence  in  North  America,  that  of  Erivan  re¬ 
sembles  Palermo  or  Barcelona.”  1  The  length  of  the 
winter  should  not  mislead  the  reader  for  neither  is  it 
uniformly  long,  nor  is  the  degree  of  cold  the  same 
all  over  the  country. 

The  reader’s  expectation  of  such  a  variety  of  cli¬ 
mate,  combined  with  a  naturally  fertile  soil,  of  a 
rich  production  both  in  quality  and  in  quantity  is 
perfectly  justifiable.  Barley,  cotton,  tobacco,  grapes 
and  wheat  are  almost  unexcelled  in  quality ;  although 
these  are  cultivated  with  very  rude  instruments  and 
in  very  primitive  ways.  Almost  all  the  fruits  and 
vegetables  raised  in  gardens,  in  this  country,  are  in 
the  list  of  the  products  of  Armenia. 

It  is  due  to  the  natural  fertility  of  the  country, 
when  we  remember  the  fact  that  the  land  is  not  only 
very  old,  and,  therefore,  more  or  less,  would  neces¬ 
sarily  decline  in  its  productivity,  but  the  method  of 
cultivation  itself  is  also  very  old,  started,  probably 
by  Adam,  Noah  and  their  immediate  descendants, 
compelled  by  the  necessities  of  life. 

In  spite  of  ancient  traditions,  which  locate  the 

1  Lynch,  “Armenia,”  Vol.  I,  p.  445. 


Armenia 


31 


Garden  of  Eden  in  Armenia,  no  explorer  as  yet  has 
been  able  to  discover  it.  Some  signs  and  symptoms, 
however,  seem  still  to  linger  in  that  unhappy  land, 
even  the  curse  of  the  flaming  sword  included.1  The 
flowers-  of  Armenia  are  some  of  these  signs,  though 
they  grow  wild  and  uncultivated,  yet  they  are  of 
rare  beauty,  fragrance  and  hue,  and  hardly  are  they 
known  to  the  Europeans  and  Americans.  They 
should  surely  give  a  paradisical  aspect  to  the  place 
and  furnish  the  conditions  of  Eden. 

The  writer  well  remembers,  while  the  snow  had 
hardly  melted  away  from  the  ground,  going  out  into 
the  fields  with  a  missionarv  of  his  native  citv,  who 
was  eagerly  digging  up  some  of  these  flowers  to  send 
to  his  friends  in  England.  “Some  slight  remains  of 
Paradise  are  left  even  to  our  davs,  in  the  form  of 
most  lovely  flowers,  which  I  gathered  on  the  very 
hill  from  whence  the  three  rivers  take  their  depart¬ 
ure  to  their  distant  seas.  Though  one  of  them  has  a 
Latin  scientific  name,  no  plant  of  it  has  ever  been 
in  Europe,  and  by  no  manner  of  contrivance  could 
we  succeed  in  carrying  one  away.  This  most  beau¬ 
tiful  production  was  called  in  Latin  Pavanea,  or 
Philipea  Coscinea,  a  parasite  on  absinthe  or  worm¬ 
wood.  This  is  the  most  beautiful  flower  conceivable, 
it  is  in  the  form  of  a  lily,  about  nine  to  twelve  inches 
long,  including  the  stalk,  the  flower,  the  stalk  and  all 
the  parts  of  it,  resembles  crimson  velvet;  it  has  no 
leaves,  it  is  found  on  the  side  of  the  moimtains  near 
Erzerum,  often  in  company  with  Morans  Orienlatis, 


1  Bryce,  “Transcaucasia  and  Ararat,”  p.  312. 


32  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

a  remarkable  kind  of  thistle,  with  flowers  all  up  the 
stalk,  looking  and  smelling  like  the  honeysuckle.  An 
iris,  of  a  most  beautiful  flaming  yellow,  is  found 
among  the  rocks  and  it,  as  well  as  all  the  more  beau¬ 
tiful  flowers,  blooms  in  the  spring  soon  after  the 
melting  of  the  snow.m 

We  must  not  omit  the  mention  of  the  singing 
birds  of  Armenia,  for  surely  they  must  have  per¬ 
formed  a  noble  service  by  their  melodious  music  in 
that  great  assembly  of  all  creation,  gathered  to  wit¬ 
ness  the  nuptials  of  our  innocent  parents  in  their 
sinless  state.  Some  of  the  descendants  of  Adam  and 
Eve,  who  are  still  living  in  Armenia,  have  no  other 
singers  than  the  posterity  of  those,  who  sang  for  the 
first  happy  pair,  while  in  the  state  of  their  innocency. 
The  birds  in  general  are  numerous,  belonging  to  vari¬ 
ous  tribes  “which”  says  the  author,  above  quoted, 
“in  thousands  and  millions  would  reward  the  toil 
of  the  sportsman  and  naturalist  on  the  plains  and 
mountains  of  the  highlands  of  Armenia.” 

Nothing  was  more  delightful  and  amusing  to  the 
writer  when  a  child,  than  to  watch  the  armies  of 
birds  flying  towards  the  north  in  the  spring,  or 
south  in  the  autumn,  in  a  grand  array,  led  by  a  gen¬ 
eral  as  it  were,  until  they  were  lost  from  sight  in 
the  clear  and  bright  Oriental  sky;  and  even  now, 
it  would  give  him  no  little  delight  were  it  possible, 
to  retire  into  one  of  those  quiet  cottages  in  the  vine¬ 
yards  or  orchards  of  the  east  and  listen  to  the  most 
melodious  anthems  of  those  songsters,  who  were  then, 


1  Curzon,  “Armenia,”  p.  117. 


Armenia 


33 


it  seems  to  him  now,  vying  with  one  another  to  make 
their  praises  more  acceptable  to  their  Creator  than 
do  many  of  our  noted  singers  in  the  magnificent 
churches  and  cathedrals  of  to-day. 

The  animals  of  Armenia — beside  the  human — are 
in  general  about  the  same  as  are  found  in  the  United 
States,  though  perhaps  the  domestic  animals  of  Ar¬ 
menia,  like  cows,  oxen,  horses,  mules  and  donkeys, 
sheep  and  goats,  are  a  little  smaller  in  size  than  are 
found  in  America.  In  olden  times,  the  Armenian 
horses  were  as  famous  as  are  the  Arabian  horses  now. 
“The  rich  pastures  of  Media  and  Armenia  furnished 
excellent  horses  for  the  Medo-Persian  Army.”  (See 
Ezek.  27: 14.) 

There  are  some  valuable  mines  in  Armenia.  Traces 
of  old  gold  mines  are  found  midway  between  Tre- 
bizond  and  Erzerum.  Some  even  think  that  the 
locality  of  “Ophir,”  from  whence  King  Solomon 
fetched  gold  to  decorate  the  temple  at  Jerusalem,  was 
in  this  region.  It  may  be  interesting  to  some  to 
repeat  that  the  ancient  river  Acampsis,  identified 
by  some  with  the  Pison  of  the  Bible,  “which  com- 
passeth  the  whole  land  of  Havilah,  where  there  is 
gold,”  does  really  run  through  this  part  of  the 
country.1 

There  are  rich  silver  and  copper  mines  in  the 
vicinity  of  Karpert  (Harput),  the  copper  mines  alone 
yield  2,250,000  pounds  annually.  There  are  mines  of 
sulphur,  sulphurate  of  lead,  antimony  and  silver.  The 
mines  of  coal  and  iron  are  found  in  abundance,  but 


1  Genesis  2:11. 


34  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

not  in  full  use,  those  that  are  operated  are  very 
poorly  done.  There  is  a  little  town  situated  on  one 
of  the  tributaries  of  western  Euphrates,  called 
Divrig,  where  the  writer  spent  some  time  in  the  two¬ 
fold  capacity  of  a  teacher  and  preacher  for  the  re¬ 
formed  Armenian  Church,  and  he  well  remembers 
how  the  people  used  easily  to  avail  themselves  of  the 
native  masses  of  iron,  with  primitive  skill,  converting 
them  into  rude  implements  for  farming  or  other 
purposes. 

There  are  mineral  springs,  hot  and  cold,  at  vari¬ 
ous  places,  with  their  peculiar  curative  powers;  they 
have  become  “Bethesdas”  of  the  invalids,  and  are 
frequented  like  the  places  of  pilgrimage,  by  those 
who  suffer  any  ailment  which  may  be  amenable  to 
treatment  and  who  are  able  to  repair  to  such  restora¬ 
tive  resorts.  Rock  salt  and  salt  springs  also  abound 
in  Armenia.  They  are  especially  inexhaustible  in 
the  vicinity  of  Moosh.  A  salt  stream,  whose  springs 
are  through  and  from  the  salt  rocks,  which  would 
bring  a  good  income  in  the  hands  of  a  wise  govern¬ 
ment,  unprofitably  flows  into,  and  mingles,  with  the 
waters  of  the  Euphrates. 

Some  of  the  ancient  and  modern  cities  of  Armenia 
still  in  existence  are  the  following:  Van,  Amid — 
now  Diarhekie — Palu,  Malatia,  Kars,  Erzerum, 
Etchmeadsin,  Erivan,  Sivas,  Karpert  (Harput), 
Manazgherd,  Bitles  and  Moosh.  The  following  is  a 
list  of  some  of  the  ancient  cities  in  ruins:  Armanir, 
Ardashad,  Valarshabad,  Dicranagherd  and  Ani. 

The  largest  part  of  Armenia  until  the  present  year 


Armenia  35 

(1916)  was  under  tlie  Turkish  rule.  Since  the 
spring  of  this  year,  the  Russians  have  been  occupy¬ 
ing  the  country,  and  the  fate  of  Armenia  is  still  un¬ 
certain,  but  the  hope  and  the  prayer  of  all  good 
people  is  that  Armenia  will  be  free  from  the  yoke 
of  the  bloody  Turk,  whose  reign  in  western  Asia 
and  in  eastern  Europe  has  been  a  curse  to  humanity 
in  general  and  to  the  Armenians  in  particular. 

The  English  traveler  Sandys,  who  visited  the 
Turkish  empire  nearly  three  centuries  ago  (about 
1638)  “has  described  with  truth  and  eloquence  the 
unhappy  condition  of  the  regions  subject  to  the  de¬ 
structive  despotism,”  in  the  following  words : 

“These  countries,  once  so  glorious  and  famous  for 
their  happy  estate,  are  now,  through  vice  and  ingrati¬ 
tude  become  the  most  deplorable  spectacles  of  extreme 
misery.  The  wild  beasts  of  mankind  have  broken  in 
upon  them,  and  rooted  out  all  civility,  and  the  pride 
of  a  stern,  and  barbarous  tyrant,  possessing  the  thrones 
of  ancient  dominions,  who  aims  only  at  the  height  of 
greatness  and  sensuality  hath  reduced  so  great  and 
goodly  a  part  of  the  world  to  that  lamentable  distress 
and  servitude  under  which  it  now  faints  and  groans. 
Those  rich  lands  at  this  present  time  remain  waste 
and  overgrown  with  bushes  and  receptacles  of  wild 
beasts,  of  thieves  and  murderers;  large  territories  dis¬ 
peopled  or  thinly  inhabited;  goodly  cities  made  deso¬ 
late,  sumptuous  buildings  become  ruins,  glorious  temples 
either  subverted  or  prostituted  to  impiety;  true  religion 
discountenanced  and  opposed ;  all  nobility  extinguished ; 
no  light  of  learning  permitted,  no  virtue  cherished; 
violence  and  rapine  exulting  over  all,  and  leaving  no 
security,  save  an  abject  mind  and  unlooked  on  poverty.” 


36  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

What  would  Mr.  Sandys — this  good  Englishman — 
say  if  he  were  alive  now  and  had  seen  what  hap¬ 
pened  within  the  last  hundred  years ;  how  these  “wild 
beasts  of  mankind”  again  and  again  broke  in  upon 
the  defenceless  Christians,  and  the  barbarous  tyrants 
ordered  their  wholesale  massacres ;  and  how  England 
protected  and  prolonged  the  lives  of  these  wild  beasts 
and  barbarous  tyrants  over  a  hundred  years;  and 
how  goodly  cities  have  been  made  desolate  and  the 
ancient  dominions  have  been  turned  into  a  veritable 
hell  by  the  sword  and  the  fire  by  these  despots;  and 
how  England  is  now  paying  dearly  for  her  past 
sins  against  humanity  and  Christianity  for  defending 
such  a  lowering  faith,  whose  votaries  defied  Jesus 
to  come  and  save  His  followers  from  the  burning 
churches,  after  they  had  set  fire  to  them  to  consume 
the  helpless  Christian  men,  women,  and  children 
who  had  fled  thither  for  refuge  from  the  sword  ?  He 
would  have  said  like  others  of  his  mold — England 
lacked  men  of  Cromwell’s  type. 

The  friends  of  Armenia  still  hope  that  she  may 
have  yet  a  bright  future  before  her,  when  peace  and 
tranquillity  is  restored;  that  she  may  yield,  or  con¬ 
tribute  many  valuable  discoveries  and  manuscripts 
from  the  old  monasteries  and  ruined  churches  and 
furnish  a  fuller  knowledge  of  the  history  of  the  early 
Christian  churches  in  the  east;  and  that  they  may 
swell  the  band  of  missionaries  of  the  cross  and  render 
good  to  her  foes  for  the  evil  she  has  received  for 
centuries. 


THE  AKMEHIAHS 


IT  is  generally  accepted,  even  by  tbe  higher  critics, 
that  the  present  Armenians  are  descended  from 
Togarmah  of  the  Scriptures  (Genesis  10:3). 
The  traditions  of  the  Armenians  also  happily  agree 
with  this.  It  was  common  in  the  olden  times  for  the 
Armenian  writers  to  call  the  people  “the  house 
of  Togarmah,”  as  did  also  the  prophet  Ezekiel 
(27:14). 

There  is  a  happy  agreement  among  the  commen¬ 
tators  on  the  subject  of  “Togarmah”  or  “the  house 
of  Togarmah,”  all  seeming  to  accept  these  words  as 
representing  the  Armenians.  Here  we  may  adduce 
the  statements  of  a  few  distinguished  writers  on 
this  subject.  “The  third  son  of  Gomer  is  Togarmah; 
the  people  descending  from  him  is  called  the  house 
of  Togarmah — (Ezekiel  27 : 14) — where  they  are 
named  after  J avan,  Tubel,  and  Meshech,  as  bringing 
horses  and  mules  to  the  mart  of  Tyre;  and  38:  6, 
where  it  appears  after  Gomer  as  a  component  of  the 
army  of  Gog.  The  Armenians  regarded  Thorgom 
(Togarmah),  the  father  of  Haick,  as  their  ancestor; 
and  even  granting  that  the  form  of  the  name  Thor¬ 
gom  was  occasioned  by  Thorgama  of  the  LXX 

37 


38  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

(Septuagint  version),  still  the  Armenian  tradition 
is  confirmed  by  Tilgarimmn  being  in  the  cnneiform 
inscription  the  name  of  a  fortified  town  in  the  sub¬ 
sequent  district  of  Melitem  (Malatiah),  on  the  south¬ 
western  boundary  of  Armenia.7’ 1  “TOGARMAH” 
“The  people  thus  designated  are  mentioned  twice 
by  Ezekiel:  in  the  former  passage  as  trading  in  the 
fairs  of  Tyre  with  horses  and  mules,  in  the  latter 
as  about  to  come  with  Gomer  out  of  the  north  quar¬ 
ter  against  Palestine.  Neither  passage  does  much 
toward  fixing  a  locality,  but  both  agree  with  the 
hypothesis  which  has  the  support  alike  of  etymology 
and  of  national  tradition,  that  the  people  intended 
are  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  Armenia.  Grimm’s  view 
that  Togarmah  is  composed  of  two  elements :  Taka, 
which  is  in  Sanskrit  Tribe’  or  ‘race,’  and  Armah 
(Armenia),  may  well  be  accepted.  The  Armenian 
tradition  which  derived  the  TIaikian  race  from  Thor- 
gon  (m),  as  it  can  scarcely  be  a  coincidence,  must 
be  regarded  as  having  considerable  value.  Now,  the 
existing  Armenians,  the  legitimate  descendants  of 
those  who  occupied  the  country  in  the  time  of 
Ezekiel,  speak  a  language  which  modern  ethnolo¬ 
gists  pronounce  to  be  decidedly  Indo-European ;  and 
thus,  so  far  the  modern  science  confirms  the  Scrip¬ 
tural  account.”2 

This  Armenian  tradition  which  the  great  scholars 
say  “must  be  regarded  as  having  considerable  value,” 
runs  somewhat  like  the  following:  About  2300  b.c.. 


1  Delitzsch,  “Commentary  on  Genesis,”  Vol.  I,  p.  310. 

2  Rawlinson,  “The  Origin  of  Nations,”  p.  183. 


The  Armenians 


39 


Haig,  the  son  of  Togarmah,  like  the  rest  of  the 
descendants  of  Noah,  was  in  pursuit  of  a  new  home 
for  himself  and  for  his  posterity,  and  had  descended 
with  the  multitude  into  the  country  of  Shinar.  Here 
the  people,  for  fear  of  another  destructive  flood, 
attempted  to  build  a  high  tower,  “the  tower  of  Babel.” 
Haig  and  his  sons  distinguished  themselves  by  wis¬ 
dom  and  virtue  in  the  erection  of  this  tower;  but 
Belus  ambitious  for  supremacy,  yea,  even  requiring 
homage  to  his  image,  became  too  repulsive  to  the 
virtuous  Haig  and  his  sons.  Haig,  therefore,  left 
the  plains  of  Shinar  with  his  large  family  and  turned 
back  to  the  home  of  his  nativity,  the  land  of  Ararat, 
in  the  vicinity  of  the  Lake  of  Van. 

Belus,  on  hearing  that  Haig  had  withdrawn  from 
his  authority,  pursued  him  with  a  large  force.  Haig, 
on  hearing  of  the  purpose  of  Belus’  pursuit,  mus¬ 
tered  all  the  male  members  of  his  family  who  were 
able  to  fight,  and  all  those  who  were  willing  to  cast 
their  lot  with  him  and  willingly  put  themselves  under 
his  authority,  and  he  armed  them  as  best  he  was  able 
and  set  out  to  meet  the  enemy.  He  charged  his  little 
army  to  attack  that  part  of  the  enemy’s  force  where 
Belus  commanded  in  person.  “For,”  said  he,  “if 
we  succeed  in  discomfiting  that  part  the  victory  is 
ours;  should  we,  however,  be  unsuccessful  in  our 
attempt  let  us  never  survive  the  misery  and  disgrace 
of  a  defeat,  but  rather  perish,  sword  in  hand,  de¬ 
fending  the  best  and  dearest  right  of  reasonable 
creatures — our  liberty.”  Then  did  the  brave  leader 
move  on  with  his  little  force  and  encountered  the 


40  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

invaders.  After  a  bloody  conflict  Belus  fell  by  an 
arrow  discharged  at  him  by  Haig.  The  army  of 
Belus,  soon  after  this,  was  dispersed.  Thus  the  first 
battle  for  liberty  the  progenitor  of  the  Armenians 
fought  and  won  for  himself  and  his  posterity.  The 
Armenians,  therefore,  call  themselves  after  this  hero 
Haigs  and  the  country  Haiasdan. 

Haig,  following  the  manner  of  the  patriarchs, 
built  many  towns  and  villages  and  after  a  long  and 
useful  life,  died  in  peace. 

Haig  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Armenag — some 
think  Armenia  is  named  after  this  prince.  The  son 
of  Armenag,  whose  name  was  Aramais,  succeeded 
him.  The  son  and  successor  of  Aramais  was  Amasia, 
who,  soon  after  the  decease  of  his  father  took  the  lead 
of  the  government.  According  to  our  tradition  it  was 
this  king  who  gave  the  name  Masis,  after  himself, 
to  that  magnificent  and  huge  mountain,  now  called 
Mount  Ararat.  After  the  death  of  his  father  Har- 
inah  ascended  the  throne. 

Aram,  about  1300  b.c.,1  the  son  and  successor  of 
Harmah,  towers  among  the  kings  of  the  first  period 
of  the  Armenian  history;  he  was,  like  King  David, 
a  great  warrior  and  conqueror.  He  chased  out  the 
Babylonian  and  Median  invaders,  penetrated  into 
the  heart  of  Cappadocia,  and  the  countries  which  he 
thus  subjected  to  the  west  of  the  Euphrates  composed 
the  Armenia  Minor. 

After  the  long  and  glorious  reign  of  Aram  the 
country  slowly  came  into  a  subordinate  condition  to 

1  The  dates  of  this  traditional  period  are  uncertain. 


41 


The  Armenians 

the  Assyrian  empire  and  though  the  kings  of  the 
Haikian  dynasty  continued  to  rule  over  Armenia, 
they  were  according  to  our  traditional  history  much 
overshadowed  when  the  southern  empire  was  at  the 
zenith  of  her  glory. 

The  famous  inscription  of  Tiglath-Pileser  I,  the 
king  of  Assyria  (1110-1090  b.c.)  throws  some  light 
on  the  condition  of  Armenia,  and  some  of  those  dis¬ 
tricts  which  never  knew  subjection:  “The  lands  of 
Laraus  and  Ammous,  which  from  the  days  imme¬ 
morial  had  not  known  subjection,  like  the  flood  of 
a  deluge  I  overwhelmed.  With  their  armies  on  the 
mountains  of  Aruma  I  fought,  and  a  destruction  of 
them  I  made.  ...  At  the  mountain  of  Aruma,  a 
difficult  district  which  for  the  passage  of  my  chariots 
was  not  suited,  I  left  the  chariots,  I  took  the  lead 
of  my  soldiers.” 

It  is  apparent  from  the  discoveries  of  the  cunei¬ 
form  inscriptions,  both  in  Armenia  and  in  Assyria, 
and  their  decipherment  by  the  modern  scholars,  that 
our  ancient  historians,  who  depended  largely  on  tra¬ 
ditions,  were  misled  or  mistaken  with  regard  to  the 
Assyrian  supremacy  over  Armenia  at  this  period — 
1100-626  b.c.  Instead  of  Assyrian  supremacy,  a 
new  dynasty  had  sprung  up  in  the  regions  of  Lake 
Van,  north,  west,  and  south  of  the  lake,  and  become 
a  worthy  antagonist  of  the  Assyrians.  They  had 
probably  pushed  the  Haikian  dynasty  further  north 
and  northwest  for  a  few  centuries. 

The  following  is  a  brief  account  of  this  period 
and  dynasty:  It  may  be  interesting  and  also  im- 


42  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

portant  to  state  that  the  kings  of  this  dynasty  are 
known  to  the  Assyrian  monarchs  as  the  kings  of 
Urartu  (Ararat)  or  Nairi,  and  in  the  Assyrian  cunei¬ 
form  inscriptions,  they  are  so  named.  Neither  do 
they  call  themselves  the  kings  of  Urartu,  hut  they 
designate  themselves  as  the  Kings  of  Nairi  and 
Biainia. 

They  call  themselves  also  the  children  of  Khaldis, 
after  their  supreme  God.  Of  late  the  modern  writers 
call  them  Chaldians  or  Khaldians,  but  they  are 
pleased  to  call  themselves  the  children  of  Khaldis, 
and  never  Khaldians.  They  seem  to  have  a  sort  of 
theocratic  reign. 

Following  is  a  list  of  the  kings  of  this  dynasty; 
Arame — He  has  no  inscriptions;  he  is  known  only 
through  those  of  the  Assyrian  kings,  in  which  he  is 
styled  the  king  of  Urartu  (Ararat).  He  was  at¬ 
tacked  in  his  capital,  Arzaskum,  by  Shalmaneser  II 
in  860  and  again  in  856  b.c. 

1.  Sarduris  I — Son  of  Lutipris,  was  attacked  by 
the  general  of  Shalmaneser  II  in  about  833  b.c. 
Called  King  of  Urartu  in  the  Assyrian  inscriptions. 

2.  Ispuinis — Son  of  Sarduris,  825-812  b.c.,  men¬ 
tioned  in  his  own  inscriptions,  styled  himself  King 
of  Nairi  of  Soura  (Northern  Syria),  inhabiting  the 
city  of  Dhuspas. 

3.  Menuas — Son  of  Ispuinis,  “may  be  regarded  as 
the  founder  of  the  original  garden  city  of  Van.”  He 
calls  himself  the  great  King  of  Biania,  inhabiting  the 
city  of  Dhuspas  (Van). 

4.  Argistis — his  son — Numerous  inscriptions  of 


The  Armenians  43 

his  are  found  as  far  north  as  Alexandropol — He  de¬ 
scribed  his  conquests  of  the  Assyrians  southeast  of 
Lake  Urumia.  Lynch  thinks  “He  was  the  founder 
of  the  City  of  Armanir  in  the  valley  of  the  Araxes.” 

5.  Sarduris  II — Son  of  Argistis — His  numerous 
inscriptions  are  scattered  over  a  large  area  of  the 
country  as  far  as  ALalatia.  He  probably  reigned 
from  754-727  b.c.  He  is  called  the  King  of  Urardhu 
in  the  Assyrian  inscriptions. 

6.  Kusas — his  son.  He  has  at  least  two  important 
inscriptions.  He  came  in  contact  with  Sargon,  the 
King  of  Assyria  (722-705  b.  c.) 

7.  Argistis  II — Son  of  Kusas.  The  mention  of 
this  ruler  in  a  V annic  text  was  discovered  by  Messrs. 
Beliek  and  Lehman  in  an  inscription  on  a  shield  in 
the  temple  at  Tobrak  Kala,  near  Van;  now  in  the 
British  Museum. 

8.  Kusas  II — The  son  of  the  above.  He  is  men¬ 
tioned  on  the  shield  above  mentioned,  and  also  in  two 
new  inscriptions  found  by  Dr.  Belek,  in  which  it  is 
told  that  he  conquered  the  Hittites  and  Moschians. 
He  was  a  contemporary  of  Esarhaddon  of  Assyria 
(681-668  b.c. ) . 

9.  Erimenas — He  is  mentioned  in  an  inscription 
on  the  shield  as  the  father  of  Kusas  III. 

10.  Kusas  III — He  rebuilt  the  temple  of  Khaldis 
(god)  on  the  Tobrak  Kala.  An  inscription  of  this 
king  has  been  found  at  Armauir. 

11.  Sarduris  III— He  is  known  through  the  As¬ 
syrian  inscriptions  as  having  sent  an  embassy  to 


44  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

Ashur-Bani-Pal  for  a  treaty  of  peace,  about 
644  b.c.1 

The  succession  of  the  kings  of  this  dynasty  has 
been  recently  corrected  by  inscriptions  discovered  by 
Drs.  Belek  and  Lehmann.  They  put  (1)  Lutipris, 
(2)  Sarduris  I,  (3)  Arame,  (4)  Sarduris  II.  .  .  . 
They  suppose  a  Sarduris  II,  the  son  of  Arame, 
as  the  antagonist  of  Shalmaneser  II,  and  suggest 
that  Sarduris  I  was  a  contemporary  of  Ashur-Naser- 
Pal  II  885-860  b.c.). 

“The  original  capital  of  the  land  was  named  Arzash- 
kun,  and  was  situated  in  the  valley  of  Araxes.  The 
first  kings  mentioned  in  the  inscription  are  Lutipris 
and  Sarduris  I,  who  were  contemporary  with  Ashur- 
Naser-Pal  (885-860  b.  c.).  In  the  account  of  the  sweep¬ 
ing  operations  from  end  to  end  of  the  northern  regions, 
which  marked  the  beginning  and  end  of  that  great 
warrior’s  reign,  no  mention  is  made  of  Sarduris,  but 
it  is  more  than  probable  that  he  felt  the  weight  of 
Ashur-Naser-Pal’s  arm.  Shalmaneser  II  is  the  first 
Assyrian  king  who  states  that  he  came  into  actual 
hostile  contact  with  Urartu,  whose  king  was  Arame. 
In  860,  857,  and  845  Shalmaneser  ravaged  Arame’s 
country  and  finally  destroyed  Arzashkun.  Later,  when 
Sarduris  II  had  succeeded  Arame,  the  Assyrian  turtan 
(general)  Ashurdayan  attacked  (in  833  and  829  b.c.). 
Ten  years  later  again  the  turtan  of  Shamshi-Adod  led 
an  expedition  against  Ishpuinis,  the  successor  of  Sar¬ 
duris  II.  These  successive  attacks  seem  to  have 
strengthened  rather  than  weakened  the  hardy  moun¬ 
tain  state,  while  the  Assyrians  gained  no  real  advan¬ 
tage  from  them.  In  alliance,  apparently,  with  Urartu, 
stood  the  Mannai,  an  Iranian  folk  of  Median  stock, 

1  Lynch,  “Armenia,”  Vol.  II,  pp.  71-76. 


45 


The  Armenians 

and  Protomedes,  to  whom  the  name  Madai  properly 
belonged  (it  now  first  appears  in  history),  in  the  coun¬ 
try  east  of  Lake  Urmia.  .  .  .  Meanwhile  Menuas,  the 
son  of  Sarduris  II,  had  extended  the  dominion  of 
Urartu  to  the  western  shores  of  Lake  Urmia.  Argis- 
tis  I,  his  son,  conquered  the  whole  of  Kurdistan  and 
Armenia  as  far  west  as  Meled  or  Meleten  (Malatia). 
The  proximity  of  the  territory  of  Urartu  to  the  center 
of  the  Assyrian  power  now  became  directly  dangerous 
to  the  empire.” 1 

It  is  more  than  probable  that  our  esteemed  reader’s 
patience  has  been  taxed  beyond  measure  by  reading 
a  history  furnished  by  the  Assyrian  and  Armenian 
inscriptions,  but  then  hardy  states,  the  kingdoms  of 
Ararat  have  rendered  a  noble  service  to  mankind  by 
checking  the  Assyrian  kings  from  doing  more  mis¬ 
chief  in  other  parts  of  western  Asia.  Not  infre¬ 
quently  these  kings  had  to  quit  in  the  midst  of  their 
campaign  in  Syria,  Palestine  or  in  Asia  Minor  and 
run  back  to  stop  the  avalanche  coming  down  from 
the  “Mountains  of  Aruma”  to  sweep  the  Assyrians 
down.  With  all  their  boasting,  the  Assyrian  kings 
never  conquered  the  kingdoms  of  Ararat. 

“The  great  undertaking  of  the  4th  year  of  the  King’s 
reign  was  a  campaign  into  the  lands  of  Nairi.  By 
this,  the  annals  of  Tiglathpileser  I  clearly  mean  the 
lands  about  the  sources  of  the  Tigris  and  Euphrates, 
lying  north,  west  and  south  of  Lake  Van.  .  .  .  One 
only  of  these  twenty-three  kings — Pierri,  the  king  of 
Dayami  (near  Maleshgert — refused  to  surrender  as  the 
others  did  but  resisted  to  the  last.  He  was  therefore 
carried  in  chains  to  Assyria.  .  .  .  This  episode  in  the 

1  Hall,  “The  Ancient  History  of  the  Near  East,”  pp.  458-9. 


46  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

king’s  conquests  is  concluded  with  the  claim  that  the 
whole  of  the  lands  of  Nairi  were  subdued,  but  later 
history  shows  clearly  that  further  conquest  was  neces¬ 
sary.”  1 

Tiglathpileser  IV,  the  king  of  Assyria,  made  several 
attempts  (in  739,  736,  735  b.c.)  to  reduce  the  king¬ 
doms  of  Ararat,  but  he  completely  failed  to  conquer 
them.  The  authority  above  quoted  concludes  the 
history  of  their  campaigns  in  these  words:  “After 
some  ineffectual  fighting  about  the  Capital  (Van) 
Tiglathpileser  raised  the  siege  and  departed.  He  had 
not  succeeded  in  adding  the  kingdom  of  Urartu  to 
Assyria.”  2 

According  to  Dr.  Belek,  the  last  work  of  the  last 
king,  Sarduris  IV,  of  Ararat  is  written  in  the  records 
of  Ashurbanipal  of  Assyria  (668-626  b.c.).  Sar¬ 
duris  sent  messengers,  with  presents  and  words  of 
friendliness  to  the  Assyrian  king.  Assyria  had 
abandoned  its  attempts  to  wreck  the  kingdom  of 
Ararat  and  the  two  powers  now  were  friends.  Some 
of  the  modern  kings  would  have  saved  untold  misery 
and  millions  of  lives  had  they  done  likewise. 

It  is  very  probable  that  Aram  of  the  Armenian 
historians,  Aruma  of  Tiglath-Pileser  I  (1090  b.c.) 
and  Arame  of  Shalmaneser  II  (860  b.c.)  are  the 
same  name.  Tiglath-Pileser  may  have  used  it  as  a 
certain  district,  for  his  expression  would  justify  this 
supposition:  “On  the  mountains  of  Aruma  I  fought.” 
And  again:  “At  the  mountain  of  Aruma,  a  difficult 


1  Rogers,  “History  of  Babylonia  and  Assyria,”  Vol.  II,  pp.  171-2. 
*  Rogers,  "  History  of  Babylonia  and  Assyria,”  Vol.  II,  pp.  284-5. 


The  Armenians 


47 


district.  .  .  .”  1  Ko  name  of  a  king  is  mentioned 
at  this  date.  But  in  the  time  of  Shalmaneser's  in¬ 
vasion  into  Armenia  (860  b.c.),  we  are  distinctly 
told :  “The  inscription  of  Kurkh  (twenty  miles  from 
Diarhekir)  informs  us  that  Shalmaneser  had  already, 
in  the  year  of  his  accession,  come  in  conflict  with 
Arrame  (or  Arame,  as  the  name  is  there  written). 
After  leaving  the  city  of  Khupuscia,  in  the  land  of 
ISTahri,  he  had  attacked  Sugunia,  a  stronghold  of 
Arame,  ‘King  of  Urardlians/  and  there  marched 
to  the  Sea  of  the  land  of  Kahri ;  or  Lake  Van,  where 
a  figure  of  himself  and  a  cuneiform  inscription  were 
engraved  on  the  rack.” 2 

A  probable  hypothesis  is  that  Aram  of  the  Ar¬ 
menian  historians,  by  his  conquests  and  wise  admin¬ 
istration,  had  formed  a  dynasty,  that  the  early  Assy¬ 
rians  knew  his  country  and  some  of  his  successors 
by  his  name,  that  Arame  of  the  time  of  Shalmaneser 
may  have  been  the  last  of  that  dynasty  and  on  ac¬ 
count  of  his  reverses  with  the  Assyrian  King,  his 
reign  came  to  an  end.  The  following  quotation  from 
Professor  Sayce  seems  to  confirm  this  view:  “A  more 
serious  difficulty  exists  in  the  fact  that  Sarduris  I 
calls  himself  the  son  of  Lutipris,  whereas  the  king 
of  Uradhu,  against  whom  Shalmaneser  had  to  con¬ 
tend  in  857  and  845  b.c.,  was  Arame,  and  already, 
in  833  b.c. ,  only  twelve  years  later,  his  antagonist 
was  Sarduris.  It  is,  however,  quite  possible  that  the 
reign  of  Lutipris  had  been  a  short  one  of  less  than 

1  See  p.  41. 

*  Sayce,  Journal  of  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  Vol.  XIV,  p.  393. 


48  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

twelve  years.  But  I  am  more  inclined  to  conjecture 
tliat  Sarduris  I  was  the  leader  of  a  new  dynasty,  the 
m  successes  of  Arame  in  his  wars  with  Assyrians 
forming  the  occasion  for  his  overthrow.”  This  con¬ 
jecture  also  explains  why  the  kings  of  this  dynasty 
do  not  call  themselves  the  kings  of  Ararat,  and  have 
no  reference  to  Arame,  while  much  Assyrianism 
exists  in  their  culture.” 

In  regard  to  the  origin  of  Ararat,  or  Arardhi,  it 
is  certainly  not  a  Semitic  word,  neither  is  it  an 
Accadian,  were  it  so,  we  would  have  been  told. 
Moses  of  Khorene  thought  it  was  called  Ara-ard,  in 
reference  to  a  defeat  of  Ara,  the  king  of  Armenia, 
in  a  bloody  conflict  with  the  Babylonians  about 
eighteen  centuries  before  our  era.  Another  Armenian 
historian  makes  Arardhi  to  derive  its  name  from 
King  Ara,  in  honor  of  the  king,  it  being  composed 
of  Ara  and  Ardh,  “field”  or  “plain,”  on  account  of 
his  wise  administration  and  the  improvements  which 
he  made  in  the  land.1 

Brockhous’  definition  and  derivation  of  Arardhi 
is  the  most  satisfactory  of  all,  namely,  Ar,  in  Sans¬ 
krit  the  root  of  “Aryan”  or  “nobles,”  and  ardh,  in 
ancient  Armenian  the  “plains”  or  “field,”  thus 
Arardhi  or  Ararat  meaning  “the  plains  of  nobles” 
or  “Aryans.”  2 

The  antiquity  of  the  name  of  Ararat  is  not  dis¬ 
puted.  It  first  comes  to  our  notice  in  the  book  of 
Genesis,  as  we  have  seen  in  connection  with  the 

1  Chamich,  “  History  of  Armenia/'  p.  22. 

*  Brockhous,  "  Lexico  II,”  p.  60. 


The  Armenians 


49 


resting  of  the  ark  “upon  the  mountains  of  Ararat.” 
The  book  of  Genesis  is  considered  by  the  best  critics 
to  be  the  oldest  book,  or  at  least,  having  the  oldest 
documents  that  compose  the  book  in  the  Scriptures, 
and  its  authorship  is  assigned  to  Moses,  who  lived 
in  the  fifteenth  century  before  the  Christian  era. 
Ararat  was  known  as  the  name  of  Armenia  even 
several  centuries  before  the  time  of  Moses.  “An 
ancient  bilingual  tablet  (W.  A.  I.,  II  48,  13)  makes 
Urdhu  the  equivalent  of  iilla,  the  latter,  as  Sir  H. 
Rawlinson  long  ago  pointed  out,  being  probably  a 
Semitic  loan-word,  and  meaning  “the  highlands.” 
Tilla,  the  equivalent  of  Urdhu,  usually  signifies  that 
land  of  Accad  or  northern  Babylonia,  but  since  it 
is  not  glossed  in  this  passage,  and  stands,  moreover, 
between  Akharu  or  Palestine,  and  Kutu  Kurdistan, 
it  would  seem  that  it  is  here  employed  to  denote 
Armenia.  Urardhu,  therefore,  contracted  into 
Urdhu,  would  have  been  the  designation  of  the  high¬ 
lands  of  Armenia  among  the  Babylonians  as  early 
as  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  century  b.c.”  1 

We  know  that  the  Assyrians  sprang  out  of  the 
ancient  Babylonian  people;  they  were  of  the  same 
blood  and  race.  Assyria  was  colonized  from  Baby¬ 
lonia.2  Thus,  their  early  acquaintance  with  the  high¬ 
lands  of  Armenia,  by  the  name  of  Urardhu,  accounts 
for  their  calling  the  Kings  of  Armenia  the  kings  of 
Urardhu  or  Ararat. 

There  has  been  a  great  deal  of  discussion  among 

1  Sayce,"  Cuneiform  Inscriptions  of  Van,”  Journal  R.A.S.,  Vol.  XIV, 
p.  392. 

*  Rogers.  “History  of  Babylonia  and  Assyria,”  Vol.  I,  pp.  455-6 


50  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

the  scholars  as  to  whether  these  Vaunic  kings  and 
people  belong  to  the  Aryan  race  or  not,  and  whether 
their  language  belongs  to  the  Indo-European  family 
of  languages.  The  question  may  be  considered  still 
a  debatable  one,  though  the  consensus  of  opinion  of 
the  modern  writers  is  in  the  negative.  Yet  a  man 
like  the  late  Dr.  Hincks,  who  was  the  first  to  begin 
the  decipherment  of  the  Yaunic  inscriptions,  has  re¬ 
corded  his  opinion  in  the  following  words :  “I  flatter 
myself,  that  those  who  read  this  paper  will  admit 
that  I  have  made  a  beginning,  and  gone  a  consider¬ 
able  way  in  the  decipherment  and  interpretation  of 
a  set  of  inscriptions,  which,  however  slight  may  be 
their  value  in  a  historical  point  of  view,  are  invalu¬ 
able  to  the  philologer,  as  being  beyond  all  compari¬ 
son  the  oldest  specimens  of  the  Asiatic  branch  of  the 
Indo-Germanic  family;  nay,  for  aught  we  know  to 
the  contrary,  they  are  more  ancient  than  any  Greek 
which  has  come  down  to  us.”1 

The  name  Armenia  was  differently  spelled  by  the 
ancients.  In  the  old  Persian  it  is  written  Armina, 
and  in  the  Armondian,  Kharminya.  It  first  appears 
in  the  cuneiform  inscriptions  of  Darius  Hystospis 
(522-486  b.c.),  which  supplanted  the  earlier  name 
Arardu,  or  Ararat.  According  to  the  Armenian  his¬ 
torians  it  is  called  after  King  Armenag,  but  accord¬ 
ing  to  others  its  origin  is  unknown.  “It  may  be 
connected  with  the  Yaunic  word  armeini-lio  csl  stele’ 
(monument),  or  with  Arman,  an  Aramaean  district 
south  of  Lake  Yan.”2 

1  Hincks,  Journal  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  Vol.  IX,  p.  422. 

2  Hastings’  “  Dictionary  of  the  Bible,"  under  the  article  Ararat . 


The  Armenians 


51 


It  must  have  been  during  the  reign  of  Eusas  II, 
the  King  of  Ararat,  that  the  sons  of  Sennacherib, 
Adrammelech  and  Shareser,  after  their  assassination 
of  their  father,  escaped  into  the  land  of  Ararat  or 
Armenia  (see  Isaiah  37:  37-38).  For  we  know  that 
Eusas  II  was  contemporary  of  Esar-haddon,  Sen¬ 
nacherib’s  son,  who  succeeded  him  (681-668  b.c.). 
The  Armenian  history  makes  Sgaiordi  the  king  who 
welcomed  the  Assyrian  princes  in  to  his  realm: 
probably  it  is  a  mistake. 

Ashurbanipal  was  the  last  king  of  Assyria  who 
had  anything  to  do  with  the  Kings  of  Ararat.  As 
we  have  seen  he  made  the  treaty  of  peace  with  Sar- 
duris  III  or  IV,  but  his  long  reign  (from  668-626 
b.c.)  was  a  period  of  gradual  waning  of  the  power 
of  the  vast  empire.  Babylon,  hitherto  a  tributary 
of  Assyria,  became  independent  under  Kabopalassar 
about  625  b.c.,  and  by  the  aid  of  the  King  of 
Ararat  and  their  ally,  Kabopolassar  succeeded 
in  overthrowing  the  Assyrian  empire,  and  about  607 
b.c.  Kineveh,  the  Assyrian  capital,  fell  before  Kabo- 
palassar  and  his  allies.  The  supremacy  of  the  East 
was  thus  transferred  to  Babylon. 

According  to  our  history,  Prince  Baruir  was  an 
ally  of  Kabopolassar.  It  is  not  said  that  he  was  an 
ally  when  the  latter  established  the  independence  of 
Babylon  (though  he  might  have  been),  but  he  was 
an  ally  when  Kabopolassar  finished  the  work  of  over¬ 
throwing  the  Assyrian  empire.  Thirty-seven  years 
before  the  latter  event  Sarduris  was  the  King  of 
Ararat.  There  is  a  great  probability  that  Baruir 


52  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

of  the  Armenian  history  and  Sarduris  of  the  cunei¬ 
form  inscription  are  either  the  same  person,  or 
Baruir  is  a  successor  of  Sarduris,  by  the  same  name ; 
and  that  the  name  Baruir  is  a  misspelled  form  of 
Sarduris.1  Again,  the  son  and  successor  of  Baruir 
(or  Sarduris  V)  is  called  H’rasha  or  H’racha.  It 
is  surely  more  than  probable  that  this  is  the  name 
of  Busas  of  the  inscriptions.  I  would  not  insist 
that  he  is  Busas  III,  who  lived  before  Sarduis  IV, 
but  if  Baruir  is  identical  with  Sarduris  IV,  or  he  is 
his  successor,  then  is  H’rasha  his  son  and  successor 
Busas  IV.  He  was  a  contemporary  and  an  ally  of 
Nebuchadnezzar,  who  succeeded  his  father  Nabo- 
polassar  about  606  b.c. 

H’racha,  as  the  ally  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  marched 
at  the  head  of  his  forces  with  the  Babylonian  mon¬ 
arch  against  Syria  and  Palestine.  On  his  return, 
he  brought  with  him  a  small  colony  from  Judea, 
mostly  nobles,2  among  whom  was  a  prince  by  the 
name  of  Shambat,  whose  posterity  in  the  middle  ages 
furnished  the  kings  of  Pagradit  dynasty  in  Armenia. 

Among  the  successors  of  H’racha,  as  the  rulers  of 
Armenia,  Tigranes  I  is  spoken  of,  by  our  historians, 
as  really  royal;  wise  in  his  administration  of  the 
affairs  of  the  State  and  just  in  his  dealings  with  the 
high  and  low.  In  the  revolt  of  the  Persians,  and 
consequent  defeat  of  Astyages  (the  Median  King) 
and  the  Medes;  which  resulted  in  the  accession  of 
Cyrus  to  the  throne  of  the  united  Medo-Persian 

1  From  Sarduris,  by  dropping  d  and  by  the  exchange  of  B  for  S,  we 
have  Baruris  or  Baruros,  vice  versa. 

2  See  II  Kings,  24  :  11-16.  This  is  the  first  captivity,  about  597  B.c. 


The  Armenians 


53 


empire;  Tigranes  must  have  rendered  some  valuable 
service  to  the  son  of  Cambyses.  This  may  account 
for  the  great  friendship  that  existed  between  these 
two  worthy  champions  of  human  liberty.1  And  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  summons  of  Prophet  Jeremiah 
(51:  27-28),  the  forces  of  Ararat,  Minni,  and  Ash- 
chenaz  joined  the  Medo-Persian  army  and  accom¬ 
plished  the  overthrow  of  the  wicked  empire  of  Baby¬ 
lonia  (538  b.c.). 

The  descendants  of  Tigranes  I  maintained  some 
sort  of  a  tributary  rule  over  the  northeastern  part 
of  the  country,  but  the  major  part  of  the  country 
was  ruled  by  the  governors  appointed  by  the  Medo- 
Persian  kings.  Yet  little  as  this  tributary  state  was, 
judging  by  the  references  found  in  the  Behistan  in¬ 
scriptions,  revolts  were  not  infrequent.  The  follow¬ 
ing  is  from  Darius  Hystaspis’  inscriptions  (521- 
486  b.c.) . 

“  .  .  .  Afterwards  I  sent  Dadarshesh  the  Armenian, 
he  is  my  servant,  I  said  to  him,  ‘go  and  crush  that  re¬ 
bellious  army,  which  revolts  against/  Dadarshesh  went 
to  subdue  Armenia.  The  rebels  fought  against  him, 
Ormazd  came  to  my  help.  My  army  destroyed  many  of 
the  enemy’s  army.” 

King  Vahi  was  the  last  of  the  descendants  of  Ti¬ 
granes  I,  who  at  the  head  of  his  army  was  fighting 

1  This  friendship  between  Cyrus  and  Tigranes  furnished  Xenophon 
with  a  fertile  subject  to  expand  his  romantic  genius.  “And  you,  Tigranes,” 
said  he  (Cyrus),  “at  what  rate  would  you  purchase  the  regaining  of  your 
wife?”  Now  he  happened  to  be  but  lately  married  and  had  a  very  great 
love  for  his  wife.  “Cyrus,”  said  he  (Tigranes),  “to  save  her  from  ser¬ 
vitude,  I  would  ransom  her  at  the  expense  of  my  life.” 

“  Cyropsedia,”  Book  III,  Chapter  I. 


54  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

with  the  Persian  forces  against  the  Macedonian  in¬ 
vaders  under  Alexander  the  Great.  King  Vahi 
valiantly  fought  against  the  Grecian  armies  in  de¬ 
fense  of  the  rights  of  his  people  and  country,  and 
in  the  terrible  conflict  he  fell  (330  b.c.).  From  this 
time  on  the  Macedonian  rulers  controlled  all  of  Ar¬ 
menia,  except  a  small  district  between  the  rivers 
Araxes  and  Kur  in  the  remote  northeastern  mountain 
fastnesses.  After  the  defeat  of  Antiochus  the  Great 
by  the  Romans,  Armenia  recovered  her  indepen¬ 
dence  ;  it,  however,  did  not  last  very  long. 

On  the  east  and  southeast  of  the  Caspian  Sea,  a 
mountainous  district  is  marked  on  the  ancient  maps 
of  the  east — Parthia.  It  is  generally  believed  by  the 
learned  that  the  people  who  occupied  this  country 
and  were  called  Parthians,  were  of  Scythian  origin, 
and  that  the  word  Parthian  in  the  Scythian  lan¬ 
guage  means  exile.  They  were  nomadic  in  their 
habits,  but  noted  horsemen  and  well  skilled  in  hand¬ 
ling  the  bow  and  arrow.  They  were  patient  in  bear¬ 
ing  the  yoke  under  the  Assyrian,  Median,  and  Per¬ 
sian  governments.  After  the  conquests  of  Alexander 
the  Great  they  shared  the  fate  of  their  more  enlight¬ 
ened  and  powerful  neighbors;  but  even  the  Par¬ 
thians  could  not  stand  any  longer  the  miserable  rule 
of  the  successors  of  the  Macedonian  king.  They 
revolted  against  Antiochus  II,  in  256,  and  during 
the  reign  of  Seleucus  II,  under  the  leadership  of 
Arsaces,  they  established  their  complete  indepen¬ 
dence  (238  b.c. ) ,  and  began  to  extend  their  domin¬ 
ions  into  the  east,  and  west,  and  north  and  south. 


The  Armenians 


55 


Within  less  than  a  century,  the  Arsacide  dynasty 
extended  the  boundaries  of  the  Parthian  empire  from 
the  Indus  to  the  Euphrates  and  from  the  Caspian 
Sea  to  the  Persian  Gulf. 

Arsaces  VI,  or  the  Great,  appointed  his  brother 
Valarsaces  king  over  Armenia  (149  b.c.),  and  these 
two  countries,  governed  by  one  reigning  family,  were 
in  full  sympathy  and  accord  with  each  other  and 
for  a  long  time  in  a  firm  alliance,  becoming  worthy 
antagonists  of  the  Romans,  who  were  pushing  east¬ 
ward  over  the  territories  once  subdued  by  Alexander 
the  Great. 

Among  the  successors  of  Valarsaces  of  the  Arsa¬ 
cide  dynasty  of  Armenia,  Tigranes  II,  or  the  Great, 
immortalized  himself,  not  only  in  the  history  of  Ar¬ 
menia,  hut  also  in  universal  history.  lie  had  a  long 
and  glorious  reign  (98-36  b.c.).  His  name  was  the 
glory  of  his  people,  as  it  was  also  a  terror  to  his  foes. 
He  extended  his  dominions  from  the  Caucasian 
mountains  to  the  Mesopotamian  plains  and  from  the 
Caspian  Sea  to  the  Mediterranean. 

“Tigranes  (II)  had  hitherto  been  continually  increas¬ 
ing  in  strength.  By  the  defeat  of  Artunes,  king  of 
Sopheni  or  Armenia  Minor,  he  had  made  himself  master 
of  Armenia  in  its  widest  extent;  by  his  wars  with 
Parthia  herself,  he  had  acquired  Gordyene,  or  Northern 
Mesopotamia,  and  Adiabeni  or  the  entire  rich  tract 
east  of  the  middle  Tigris  (including  Assyria  proper  and 
Arbelitis),  as  far,  at  any  rate,  as  the  course  of  the  lower 
Zab;  by  means  which  are  not  stated,  he  had  brought 
under  subjection  the  king  of  the  important  country  of 
Media  Atropatene,  independent  since  the  time  of  Alex- 


56  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

ander.  Invited  into  Syria,  about  b.c.  83,  by  the  wretched 
inhabitants,  wearied  with  perpetual  civil  wars  between 
the  princes  of  the  house  of  Selencidae,  he  had  found  no 
difficulty  in  establishing  himself  as  a  king  over  Cilicia, 
Syria  and  most  of  Phoenicia.  About  B.c.  80,  he  had 
determined  on  building  himself  a  new  capital  in  the 
province  of  Gordieni,  a  capital  of  vast  size,  provided 
with  all  the  luxuries  required  by  an  Oriental  court, 
and  fortified  with  a  wall  which  recalled  the  glories  of 
the  ancient  cities  of  Assyria.”  1 

This  magnificent  capital  was  called  after  him — 
Tigranaghert2  (built  by  Tigranes). 

Long  before  this  time  the  Romans  had  been  fol¬ 
lowing  the  track  of  the  Macedonian  conqueror  to 
snatch  the  fragments  of  his  broken  Eastern  empire 
from  his  successors.  But  Tigranes  the  Great  was 
like  a  great  wall  before  their  fast  advance.  Now  he 
was  dead.  Still  worse,  there  was  not,  as  before,  that 
firm  alliance  between  the  Parthians  and  Armenians, 
which  had  been  the  foundation  of  their  stability. 
Had  the  Parthian  and  Armenian  monarchs  recog¬ 
nized  the  fact  that  Rome  was  a  common  enemy  to 
both,  and  kept  their  alliance  firm  and  unshaken  by 
the  intrigues  and  enticements  of  the  Roman  gen¬ 
erals,  and  had  encountered  the  common  foe  with 
their  united  forces,  the  Roman  power  would  never 
have  been  able  to  make  her  appearance,  or  maintain 
it,  in  western  Asia.  However,  whether  with  bravery 

1  Rawlinson,  “The  Sixth  Great  Oriental  Monarchy,”  pp.  140-1. 

2  According  to  Strabo,  12  Greek  cities  were  depopulated  to  furnish 
Tigrancerta  with  inhabitants  (XI,  14  Sect.  15).  According  to  Appean 
300,000  Cappadocians  were  translated  thither  (Methrice,  page  216  C). 
Plutarch  speaks  of  the  population  as  having  been  drawn  from  Cilicin, 
Cappadocia,  Gordyene,  Assyria  and  Adeabeni  (Lucu,  11  26). 


The  Armenians 


57 


C  ' 


or  treachery  (we  rather  think  with  a  combination 
of  the  two),  the  Romans  pushed  their  way  into  that 
country. 

Antony,  the  Roman  general,  in  his  expedition  into 
Parthia  entered  into  alliance  with  Artavasdes,  the 
son  and  successor  of  Tigranes  II,  and  he  was  allowed 
to  attack  Media  through  Armenia.  Media  was  de¬ 
pendent  on  Parthia,  at  this  time  (35  b.c.).  Ill  suc¬ 
cess  compelled  him  to  retreat  into  Armenia  and  win¬ 
ter  there.  Meanwhile,  the  king  of  Media,  having 
been  provoked  by  the  Parthians,  and  with  the  hope 
of  a  possible  recovery  of  his  country’s  independence 
by  the  Roman  aid,  entered  into  an  alliance  with  the 
Roman  general.  Antony,  then  desiring  to  reduce  Ar¬ 
menia  to  a  vassal  state,  by  enticing  Artavasdes  to 
enter  into  his  power,  while  the  Roman  legions  were 
stationed  at  the  most  important  posts  in  the  country 
which  had  afforded  them  such  a  hospitable  shelter 
during  the  severe  winter,  “he  (Antony)  professed 
the  most  friendly  feeling  towards  Artavasdes,  even 
promising  an  alliance  between  their  families,  that 
prince  (Artavasdes),  after  some  hesitation,  at  length 
entered  into  his  presence.  He  was  immediately 
seized  and  put  in  chains,  and  carried  off  Artavasdes 
and  a  rich  bounty  into  Egypt.”  1 

Artavasdes  was  kept  in  prison  for  about  two  years 
and  afterwards  beheaded  (30  b.c.).  According  to 
some  his  son  recovered  the  country  by  the  aid  of 
the  Parthians  and  was  avenged  for  the  wrong  done 
to  his  father,  by  massacring  all  the  perfidious  Ro- 

1  Rawlinaon,  “The  Sixth  Great  Oriental  Monarchy,’!  XIII,  p.  206. 


58  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

mans  found  in  the  country.  Armenia,  after  this, 
was  for  a  long  time  in  a  perpetual  turmoil,  between 
the  Romans  on  one  side  and  the  Parthians  on  the 
other.  Almost  a  hundred  years  after  the  death  of 
Ardashes  II  (21  b.c.-85  a.d.),  the  condition  of  the 
country  was  most  deplorable.  The  internal  dissen¬ 
sions  among  the  nobility  of  the  inhabitants,  and  the 
contentions  of  the  Romans  and  Parthians  externally, 
resulting  in  the  clash  of  arms  often  between  these 
two  powers.  Intrigues  and  assassinations  among  the 
princes  and  notables,  fill  the  country  with  horror  and 
the  people  with  misery. 

A  fragment  of  the  great  empire  of  Tigranes  II, 
the  northwestern  part  of  Mesopotamia  was  made  a 
principality,  the  soldiers  and  the  nobility  made  Ar- 
tavasdes7  cousin,  Arsham,  king,  under  the  protector¬ 
ate  of  Rome  (33-3  b.c.).  The  king  made  Edessa 
his  capital.  His  son  and  successor  was  called  Ap- 
garus  by  the  Assyrians.  He  was  contemporary  with 
Christ  and  was  the  first  Christian  Prince  (3  b.c.-35 
a.d. ) .  In  the  north  Ardashes  (III)  seems  to  have 
a  stormy  time  for  a  while,  but  he  had  a  long  and 
useful  reign  (85-131  a.d.).  His  three  sons  succes¬ 
sively  succeeded  him  (131-193). 


Ill 


THE  RELIGION  OE  THE  ANCIENT 
ARMENIANS 

“And  Noah  builded  an  altar  unto  the  Lord  ”  Gen. 

9  :20.  “Our  earth  owes  the  seeds  of  all  higher  cnltnre  to 
religions  traditions,  whether  literary  or  oral.” — Herdee, 

THE  Bible,  modern  scholarship  and  Armenian 
traditions  agree  that  the  ark  of  Noah 
rested  “upon  the  mountains  of  Ararat,” 
or  Armenia.  We  learn  from  the  Bible,  that 
Noah  came  out  of  the  ark  and  all  those  that 
were  with  him,  and  he  builded  an  altar  unto 
the  Lord  “and  offered  burnt  offerings  on  the 
Altar.”  This  fact  justifies  Armenia’s  claim  to  be 
the  first  country  where  a  true  and  pure  divine  wor¬ 
ship  was  again  practised  after  the  Deluge.  The  tra¬ 
dition  of  the  Armenians  coincides  with  the  truth 
revealed  in  the  Bible  and  with  the  results  of  modern 
scholarship,  that  the  primitive  religion  of  mankind 
was  a  pure  and  simple  monotheism,  in  form  patri¬ 
archal.  Prof.  Max  Muller  of  Oxford,  England,  says 
“Religion  is  not  a  new  invention.  It  is,  if  not  as 
old  as  the  world,  at  least  as  old  as  the  world  we 
know.  As  soon  almost  as  we  know  anything  of  the 


59 


60  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

thoughts  and  feelings  of  man,  we  find  him  in  pos¬ 
session  of  religion,  or  rather  possessed  by  religion.” 

The  Bible  furnishes  sufficient  facts  to  assert  that 
this  pure  monotheism  in  its  patriarchal  form  was 
perpetuated  among  the  immediate  descendants  of 
1\  oah,  and  later  especially  in  the  line  of  Abraham. 
Many  centuries  after  the  building  of  the  first  altar 
unto  the  Lord  we  find  Abraham  called  by  Jehovah 
out  of  his  country  and  from  his  people  to  become  the 
head  of  a  nation  through  whom  the  knowledge  of  the 
only  one  true  God  should  be  perpetrated.  God’s  call 
of  Abraham  was  not  for  the  purpose  of  making  a 
true  worshiper  of  him,  but  that  through  him  the  true 
worship  of  J ehovah  might  be  perpetuated.  The 
Toid  said  I  will  make  of  thee  a  great  nation.” 

Another  example  of  the  true  worshiper  of  God 
in  the  time  of  Abraham  was  Melchizedek  (King  of 
righteousness),  King  of  Salem  (peace),  “who  was 
the  high  priest  of  the  most  high  God.”1  Melchize¬ 
dek  was  not  only  a  monotheist,  but  also  the  priest 
of  a  monotheistic  faith.  He  reigned  over  his  people 
on  whose  behalf  he  officiated  as  the  high  priest  of  the 
most  high  God.  How,  therefore,  it  ought  to  be  ad¬ 
mitted  that  not  only  solitary  individuals,  like  Abra¬ 
ham  and  Melchezidek,  but  the  people  of  the  latter 
also  were  true  worshipers  of  God. 

The  Bible  is  not  a  universal  history  of  mankind. 
Were  it  so,  well  might  we  have  expected  it  to  men¬ 
tion  other  nations  and  their  early  religious  beliefs  j 
though  what  little  it  incidentally  states  in  regard  to 

1  Genesis,  14:18. 


The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Armenians  61 

them  is  marvelously  accurate.  The  Armenian  tra¬ 
dition  that  their  primitive  religion  was  monotheism, 
therefore,  is  neither  incredible  nor  inconceivable, 
but  on  the  contrary,  it  is  most  probable  and  is  sup¬ 
ported  by  the  analogy  of  the  Bible  record. 

The  investigations  of  modern  scholarship  maintain 
the  idea  and  render  it  almost  a  moral  demonstration 
that  the  primitive  religions  of  the  ancient  nations 
were  of  a  monotheistic  type  or  if  not  a  pure  mono¬ 
theism,  at  least  not  very  far  from  it.  Prof.  Max 
Muller,  in  his  lectures  on  the  “Origin  and  Growth  of 
Religion,”  says:  “The  Ancient  Aryans  felt  from  the 
beginning,  aye,  it  may  be  more  in  the  beginning 
than  afterwards,  the  presence  of  a  Beyond1  of  an 
Infinite,  of  a  Divine,  or  whatever  else  we  may  call 
it  now;  and  they  tried  to  grasp  and  comprehend  it, 
as  we  all  do,  by  giving  to  it  name  after  name.”  It 
is  conceded  by  the  scholars  that  the  ancient  Arme¬ 
nians  were  closely  connected  with  the  ancient  Aryans 
(See  Chap.  II),  indeed  that  they  were  Aryans,  and 
their  legitimate  descendants  now  speak  a  language 
which  modern  ethnologists  decidedly  pronounce  to 
belong  to  Aryan  or  Indo-Germanic  origin.  Although 
we  do  not  know  when  the  separation  of  the  Aryans 
took  place,  we  can  safely  say  that  the  above  state- 

1  The  following  three  Armenian  words  will  show  what  they  believed 
before  the  Christian  religion  was  introduced  into  the  country: 

(а)  Asd-u-adz  means  God,  and  is  made  up  of  asd  and  adz — “here”  and 
“He  brought,”  namely — God  is  the  one  who  brought  us  here. 

(б)  Mart  =man,  is  composed  Mi  =no  or  not,  art=  now  or  the  present- 
meaning  not  for  the  present.  The  man  is  made  for  the  future  or  here¬ 
after. 

(c)  Mah  =death,  mi  =no  or  not ,  oA=fear.  Death  ip  Armenian  meant  no 
fear.  Shows  belief  in  the  hereafter. 


62  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

ment  of  Prof.  Max  Miiller  is  also  perfectly  applicable 
to  the  ancient  Armenians ;  yet  we  are  not  able  to  say 
bow  long  such  a  purity  of  faith  prevailed  in  Armenia. 

The  human  mind  is  capable  of  progress,  but  when 
it  is  left  to  itself  is  sure  to  retrograde  and  degenerate. 
This  is  verified  in  the  case  of  almost  all  nations  and 
in  the  history  of  all  the  religions  of  the  world.  “That 
religion  is  liable  to  corruption  is  surely  seen  again 
and  again.  In  one  sense  the  history  of  most  religions 
might  be  called  a  slow  corruption  of  their  primitive 
purity.”  Divine  aid,  especially  in  religion,  is  there¬ 
fore  absolutely  necessary  for  a  true  progress.  Ar¬ 
menia  left  to  herself  fell  into  a  gross  form  of  idolatry. 
Her  fall  must  have  been  hastened,  if  not  caused,  by 
her  idolatrous  neighbors,  the  Babylonians  and  As¬ 
syrians.  For  the  idolatry  which  we  find  in  the  early 
history  of  the  country  is  decidedly  like  that  of 
Assyro-Babylonian.  It  is  not  the  same  religion 
adopted  and  practised  by  the  inhabitants,  but  it  is 
modeled  after  the  Assyrian. 

Anterior  to  the  cuneiform  inscriptions  of  Armenia 
the  people  must  have  had  an  idolatry  similar  to  the 
Sabeism  (Sabianism)  of  Babylonia,  which  was  after¬ 
wards  modeled  to  the  Assyrian  style,  with  its  dis¬ 
tinctive  character.  One  of  the  inscriptions  furnishes 
a  long  list  of  the  gods  and  the  regulations  for  sacri¬ 
fices  daily  to  be  offered  to  them.  There  are,  however, 
three  other  gods,  which  stood  apart  by  themselves  at 
the  head  of  the  Pantheon.  These  are  Khaldis,  Tus- 
bas  (the  air  god)  and  Adinis  (the  sun  god).  But 
Khaldis  is  the  supreme  god  and  the  father  of  other 


The  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Armenians  63 

gods;  and  in  addition  to  these  every  tribe,  and  city 
and  fortress  seem  to  have  its  respective  god.  Some 
other  gods  are  Avis  or  Auis  (the  water  god),  Agas 
(the  earth  god),  Dhuspuas  (the  god  of  Tosp,  the 
City  of  Van),  Selardis  (the  moon  god),  Sardis  (the 
year  god).  The  Armenians,  in  this  period,  do  not 
seem  to  have  any  goddess.  Saris  is  found  only  men¬ 
tioned  once  in  the  inscriptions  and  is  translated 
“queen,”  yet  it  is  supposed  to  have  been  borrowed 
from  the  Assyrian  Istar.  Whether  all  the  other  gods 
are  the  children  of  the  supreme  god  Khaldis,  or  are 
subordinate  to  him  and  separate  from  his  numerous 
offsprings,  it  is  not  quite  clear;  the  latter,  however, 
is  most  likely  the  case,  because  the  Kaldians  (the 
children  of  Khaldis)  and  other  gods  have  their  sepa¬ 
rate  offerings  assigned  to  them  according  to  their 
importance. 

With  the  rise  of  the  Medo-Persian  empire  a  new 
religion  rises  from  obscurity  to  prominence  in  west¬ 
ern  Asia.  This  is  the  religion  of  Zoroaster.  It  is 
generally  believed  that  Zoroaster  was  a  real  person 
and  the  founder  of  this  religion,  which  is  called  after 
his  name,  Zoroastrianism.  There  is,  however,  great 
uncertainty  about  the  period  of  his  existence;  some 
would  make  him  contemporary  with  David  or  Solo¬ 
mon.  It  is  probable  that  he  lived  in  a  much  later 
time  than  these  Israelitish  kings. 

The  religion  of  Zoroaster  is  dualistic.  It  teaches 
that  there  are  two  uncreated  beings.  Ormazd,  the 
supreme  good,  and  Ahriman,  the  evil;  that  Ormazd 
created  the  earth,  the  heavens,  and  man,  and  that 


64  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

man  is  created  free;  Ahriman  is  tlie  evil  and  evil¬ 
doer,  and  in  constant  war  with  Ormazd;  this  world 
is  their  battlefield.  There  are  inferior  (good  and 
bad)  spirits  which  are  called  genii,  who  are  the  in¬ 
struments  of  Ormazd  (the  good  spirits)  and  Ahriman 
(the  bad  spirits).  Fire  alone  was  the  personification 
of  the  son  of  Ormazd,  and  therefore  an  object  of  vene¬ 
ration.1 

The  Magi  were  the  priests  of  Zoroastrianism,  with 
a  high  priest  of  this  order  who  was  called  in  the 
Armenian  language  Mogbed  (the  head  or  the  leader 
©f  Magi).  No  doubt  this  was  the  religion  of  the 
Armenians  for  nearly  eight  centuries  (550  b.c.  to 
275  or  280  a.d.),  possibly  with  some  modifications 
and  additions  from  the  Grecian  polytheism  after  the 
conquest  of  Alexander  the  Great.  The  Roman  deifi¬ 
cations  of  her  emperors  did  not  effect  Armenia. 

1  A  sample  of  the  polytheistic  Babylonian’s  prayer: 

“May  the  god  whom  I  know  not  be  appeased! 

May  the  goddess  whom  I  know  not  be  appeased! 

May  both  the  god  I  know  and  the  god  I  know  not  be  appeased!” 


THE  CONVERSION  OF  THE  ARMENIANS 


HARDLY  will  it  be  necessary  to  turn  the  at¬ 
tention  of  the  reader  to  the  condition  of 
the  world,  especially  in  western  Asia,  at 
the  time  of  Christ’s  Advent.  Sabeism  or  Sabianism 
of  Ancient  Babylonia  had  not  quite  expired  yet, 
though  her  votaries,  in  despair,  were  getting  ready 
to  give  her  a  magnificent  burial.  In  vain  had  the 
Assyrians  tried  to  resuscitate  her  (fancying  that 
the  number  of  gods  was  not  sufficient  to  keep  Sabeism 
alive),  by  raising  some  imaginary  powers  into  the 
dignity  of  deities.  The  Persians  thought  Zoroas¬ 
trianism  a  plausible  hypothesis  to  account  for  the 
constant  conflict  of  the  good  and  evil  in  the  world 
by  assuming  Ormazd  the  supreme  good  god  and  Ahri- 
man  the  evil  being,  but  they  were  conscious  of  its 
insufficiency  and  following  the  example  of  the  As¬ 
syrians  and  Babylonians,  they  adopted  other  gods 
and  a  goddess,  too.  Yet  these  additions,  instead  of 
improving  the  faith  of  Zoroaster  corrupted  it  with 
the  impurities  of  immorality.  The  Grecian  invasion 
of  western  Asia  was  the  means  of  introducing  there 
a  gross  polytheism  which  increased  the  darkness  of 
the  moral  and  religious  condition  of  the  East.  The 

65 


66  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

noble  religion  of  tbe  patriarchs  and  the  prophets  had 
fallen  into  a  ritualistic  literalism  in  the  hands  of 
the  Pharisees ;  and  in  the  hand  of  skeptical  Saducees 
it  had  become  an  object  of  incredulity.  In  one  word, 
the  world  was  lying  in  wickedness,  enveloped  in  the 
darkest  clouds  of  idolatry,  superstitions  and  sin. 

Then  it  was  that  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  arose 
with  healing  in  His  wings  and  chased  away  the  dark¬ 
ness  which  had  enveloped  the  whole  world..  Christ’s 
fame  had  already  spread  far  and  nigh  and  reached 
the  ear  of  the  Armenian  Prince  of  Edessa,  and  it 
had  revived  in  his  heart  hopes  of  recovery  from  an 
incurable  disease.  Therefore  sent  he  for  Christ, 
according  to  the  tradition  of  the  entire  Christian 
Church.  Soon  after  the  ascension  of  Christ  three  of 
His  apostles,  Thaddeus,  Bartholomew  and  Jude,  suc¬ 
cessively  and  successfully  preached  the  gospel  in 
Armenia.  Some  even  affirm  that  not  only  the  seed 
of  the  gospel  was  planted  there  by  these  apostles, 
and  they  watered  it  by  their  blood — having  suffered 
martyrdom  there — but  by  the  apostolic  preaching  of 
Gregory  the  Illuminator,  the  churches  which  they 
organized  survived  all  manner  of  persecution  till 
the  final  conquest  of  Christianity  over  Armenia. 

The  following  is  from  the  pen  of  H.  B.  Tristram, 
D.D.,  LL.D.,  E.R.S.,  canon  of  Durham,  England, 
writing  on  the  subject :  “There  were  certain  Greeks.”1 
“It  is  a  very  early  tradition,  and  the  pretended  letter 
of  Abgarus,  and  the  reply  of  Jesus,  are  recorded  by 
Eusebius,  and  were  accepted  in  his  time.  He  pro- 


1  John  12:20,  21. 


The  Conversion  of  the  Armenians  67 

fesses  to  have  obtained  them  from  the  archives  of 
Edessa.  The  Armenians  identify  the  messengers 
with  their  nationality  and  claim  that  Ahgarns  was 
King  of  Armenia.  But,  though  all  historical  critics 
agree  in  pronouncing  the  letters  apocryphal,  there  is 
less  reason  for  rejecting  the  tradition  that  Thaddseus, 
soon  after  the  dispersion  of  the  disciples  from  Jeru¬ 
salem,  carried  the  gospel  into  Armenia.  We  know 
that  when  Gregory  the  Illuminator,  who  was  born 
a.d.  257,  proclaimed  the  message  throughout  Ar¬ 
menia,  he  found  Christians  everywhere,  and  a  church 
which  though  sorely  persecuted  and  oppressed,  had 
existed  from  apostolic  times.  He  was,  in  fact,  rather 
the  restorer  than  the  founder  of  the  Armenian 
church,  which  became  the  Church  of  the  whole  nation 
half  a  century  before  the  cross  was  emblazoned  on 
the  standard  of  Rome.  The  Armenians  may  justly 
claim  to  he  the  oldest  Christian  nation  in  the  world.” 

Though  Christianity  was  first  introduced  into  Ar¬ 
menia  by  the  Apostles,  who  laid  the  foundation  of 
the  ennobling,  regenerating,  purifying  religion  of 
Christ  so  early  as  in  the  middle  of  the  first  century 
of  the  Christian  era,  yet  the  completion  of  that  work 
and  the  demolition  of  heathenism  were  reserved  for 
St.  Gregory. 

Prince  Anak,  Gregory’s  father,  was  of  the  royal 
family  of  Arsacidae  of  Parthia,  whose  reign  was 
overthrown  by  Artaxerxes,  the  founder  of  the  Sas- 
sanian  dynasty  of  Persia.  But  the  Armenian 
branch  of  Arsacidae  was  still  in  full  vigor  in  the  per¬ 
son  of  Chosroves  I,  the  King  of  Armenia,  who  had 


68  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

tried  to  restore  the  seized  scepter  of  power  to  the 
deprived  royal  family  of  Parthia  from  the  revolter, 
Artaxerxes,  the  Persian.  The  latter  could  not  he 
secure  on  his  throne,  so  long  as  Chosroves  was  the 
ruler  of  Armenia.  So  he  attempted  to  reduce  Ar¬ 
menia.  But,  failing  to  do  this,  by  force  of  arms, 
he  resorted  to  treachery.  Anak,  who  was  related  to 
Chosroves,  was  induced  by  Artaxerxes,  with  promises 
of  large  reward,  to  play  the  part  of  an  assassin.  It 
was  so  arranged  that  Anak  would  be  driven  out  of 
Persia  as  a  person  dangerous  to  the  safety  of  the 
newly  established  sovereignty  there  because  he  was  a 
member  of  the  Arsacide  dynasty.  “Anak,  with  his 
wife,  his  children,  his  brother,  and  a  train  of  atten¬ 
dants,  pretended  to  take  refuge  in  Armenia  from  the 
threatened  vengeance  of  his  sovereign,  who  caused 
his  troops  to  pursue  him,  as  a  rebel  and  deserter,  to 
the  very  borders  of  Armenia.”  1  Anak  was  received 
by  Chosroves,  who  listened  to  his  story  with  great 
credulity  and  sympathy.  With  the  first  opportunity, 
Anak  committed  the  crime  of  assassination  of  the 
king,  but  the  latter  lived  long  enough  to  request  the 
complete  destruction  of  the  assassin  and  his  family. 
Anak  had  no  time  to  effect  his  escape  and  being 
seized,  he  and  his  brother  received  the  due  punish¬ 
ment  of  their  crime.  His  son,  Gregory,  however, 
who  was  only  an  infant,  was  saved  by  the  faithful¬ 
ness  of  his  nurse,  who  took  the  child  and  escaped 
into  the  city  of  Caesarea,  Cappadocia,  where  he  was 


1  Rawlinson,  “The  Seventh  Oriental  Monarchy,”  p.  51. 


The  Conversion  of  the  Armenians  69 

brought  up  in  a  Christian  family,  with  a  thorough 
Christian  education. 

On  the  other  hand,  Artaxerxes  attained  his  ob¬ 
ject  without  paying  for  it,  and,  hearing  of  the  con¬ 
dition  of  affairs  in  Armenia,  he  immediately  hastened 
thither  with  his  army  and  took  the  people  by  sur¬ 
prise.  He  doomed  the  royal  family  of  Arsacidae 
to  death,  so  as  not  to  leave  any  to  rival  him  for  the 
thron..  However,  Tiridates,  the  son  of  Chosroves, 
escaped  into  the  Roman  province  of  Armenia,  and 
thence  to  Rome,  where  he  received  a  military  train¬ 
ing.  His  sister  was  hid  in  the  stronghold  of  Ani. 

Tiridates  found  favor  with  the  Roman  Emperor 
Diocletian,  who,  with  a  great  force,  sent  him  to  Ar¬ 
menia  to  retake  his  father’s  throne  from  the  Per¬ 
sians.  He  was  welcomed  by  his  people,  who  joined 
his  army  and  drove  out  of  the  country  their  common 
enemy  (a.d.  286).  It  appears  that  Gregory  had 
sought  Tiridates  and  found  him  in  Rome  and  en¬ 
tered  his  services,  his  sole  “purpose  being  to  win  over 
to  eternal  life,  through  the  gospel  of  Christ,  the 
son  (  £  him  who  had  been  slain  by  his  father,  and  thus 
to  make  amends  for  his  father’s  crime.”  Though 
Gregory  suffered  many  a  torture  and  torment  and  a 
long  period  of  imprisonment,  yet  this  noble  Christian 
hero  and  apostle  was  determined  “to  win  (the  king) 
over  to  eternal  life,  through  the  gospel  of  Christ.” 

The  king,  finally,  was  converted  and  baptized  by 
St.  Gregory.  Tiridates  himself  became  a  worthy 
champion  of  the  truth,  and  the  first  honored  king 
who  proclaimed  throughout  his  dominions  that  hence- 


70  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

forth  the  religion  of  Christ  is  the  religion  of  Ar¬ 
menia.  The  Armenians  were  nationally  converted  to 
Christianity,  from  the  king  down  to  the  servant ;  we 
must  not  forget,  however,  that  there  were  some  espe¬ 
cially  among  the  nobility,  who  with  a  heathenish  ten¬ 
acity  held  on  to  the  Zoroastrian  faith,  but  this  was 
for  mercenary  purposes  rather  than  a  real  apprecia¬ 
tion  of  Zoroastrianism.  For  Christianity  had  made 
a  great  advance  in  the  country.  Moreover,  the 
apostle  of  Armenia,  by  his  evangelistic  spirit  and 
labors,  had  laid  a  firm  foundation  fr”  the  religion 
of  Christ  in  the  land  of  Ararat  (a.d.  289).  He 
was,  by  the  request  of  the  king,  sent  to  Caesarea, 
Cappadocia,  to  be  ordained  bishop  over  Armenia 
(a.d.  302). 1 

The  temples  of  the  idols  in  every  important  city 
and  town  were  pulled  down  and  Christian  churches 
in  their  stead  were  built.  The  most  splendid  of  all 
these  churches  was  Etchmiadsin,  “the  descent  of  the 
only  begotten,”  which  was  afterwards  clustered 
about  with  other  buildings  and  became  a  monastery 
and  to  this  day  the  seat  of  St.  Gregory’s  successors 
to  his  prelatic  chair. 

In  those  days,  and  during  a  century  afterwards, 
Christian  training  was  carried  on  by  the  catechisers, 
for  very  few  had  access  to  the  Syriac  or  Greek  liter¬ 
ature,  and  the  Armenian  literature  also  was  written 

1  “The  Armenian  King  became  a  convert  before  their  [emperor’s]  revival 
(of  persecution)  under  Diocletian  (284-305  a.d.);  and  Christianity  was 
adopted  as  the  religion  of  the  State  in  Armenia  some  thirty  years  prior 
to  its  triumph  in  the  West  by  the  decisive  action  of  the  Melvian  Bridge 
(312),  and  over  100  years  before  the  edicts  of  Theodosius  the  First  against 
the  practice  of  paganism.”  Lynch,  “Armenia,”  Vol.  I,  p.  293. 


The  Conversion  of  the  Armenians  71 


in  either  of  these  characters;  the  characters  of  the 
Armenian  alphabet  were  not  yet  wholly  discovered 
or  completed.  So  the  reader  will  bear  in  mind  that 
the  advantages  of  imparting  or  disseminating  a  thor¬ 
ough.  Christian  knowledge,  if  not  lacking  wholly, 
were  very  inadequate.  After  a  long  and  useful  life 
St.  Gregory  entered  into  the  joy  of  the  Lord  and 
Master  (a.d.  332). 

Ten  years  after  the  death  of  this  noble  apostle 
of  Armenia,  the  valiant  defender  of  that  divine  faith 
also  ended  his  useful  career  (342),  after  seeing  the 
prosperous  condition  of  the  Church,  which  they 
loved  and  for  which  they  toiled.  Both  were  suc¬ 
ceeded  by  their  sons.  The  power  of  Armenia,  how¬ 
ever,  was  not  equal  to  the  conflicting  forces  on  either 
side,  though  the  descendants  of  Tiridates  held  the 
scepter  of  Armenia  nearly  a  century  longer,  it  was 
in  a  very  enervated  state.  Nevertheless  the  Church 
of  Christ  made  a  decided  advance  within  this  period. 
The  Armenian  alphabetic  characters 1  were  recov¬ 
ered  and  completed  by  the  distinguished  scholar  and 
prelate  Mesrob,  who,  with  St.  Isaac,  the  patriarch, 
or  bishop,  translated  the  Scriptures  into  the  Ar¬ 
menia  language,  the  Old  Testament  from  the  Septua- 
gint  version  and  the  New  Testament  from  the 
original  Greek.2  After  the  conversion  of  the  Arme¬ 
nians  to  Christianity  not  a  few  of  the  youths  of 

1  The  translation  of  Scriptures  was  completed  a.d.  436.  "A  statement 
found  in  Philostratus  (about  200  a.d.)  would  point  to  the  existence  of 
an  Armenian  alphabet  at  the  beginning  of  our  era.”  Appleton’s,  “  The 
Universal  Cyclopedia,”  Vol.  I,  p.  321. 

*  The  final  translation  and  revision  of  the  Scriptures  was  completed  in 
A.D.  436. 


72  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

Armenia  flocked  into  the  schools  of  Athens,  Alex¬ 
andria,  and  Constantinople,  to  sate  their  avidity 
for  learning,  who,  afterwards,  rendered  great  service 
to  the  nation,  both  by  their  writings,  and  many  val¬ 
uable  translations  from  the  Greek.  Some  of  these 
originals  have  been  lost  and  the  world  now  has  them 
in  Armenian  only. 

The  rise  of  the  Sassanian  dynasty  in  Persia  was  a 
source  of  more  or  less  perpetual  misery  and  blood¬ 
shed  in  Armenia.  The  Persians  had  two  reasons  for 
their  cruel  attitude  toward  Armenia.  The  first  was 
the  continued  existence  of  the  Arsacide  reign  in  Ar¬ 
menia  ;  the  second  was  Armenia’s  conversion  to 
Christianity,  while  Zoroastrianism  was  revived  in 
Persia  by  the  Sassanian  Kings.  Christianity  was 
the  permanent  occasion  for  which  Armenia  has  suf¬ 
fered  and  is  still  suffering  indescribable  miseries  and 
innumerable  cruelties.  The  Persians  imagined  that 
as  long  as  the  Armenians  were  Christians  they  were 
in  alliance  with  the  Greeks,  while  in  reality  the 
Greeks  were  no  more  in  sympathy  with  them  than 
the  Persians  were. 

Yasgerd  II,  the  King  of  Persia  (a.d.  450),  de¬ 
creed  thus :  “All  peoples  and  tongues  throughout  my 
dominions  must  abandon  their  heresies  and  worship 
the  Sun,  bring  to  him  their  offerings,  and  call  him 
God;  they  shall  feed  the  holy  fire,  and  fulfill  all 
the  ordinances  of  Magi.”  Accordingly,  Mihmerseh, 
the  grand  vizier  of  the  Persian  court,  wrote  a  long 
letter  to  the  Armenians,  polemic  in  character,  per¬ 
suasive  in  style,  and  menacing  in  tone.  The  Synod 


The  Conversion  of  the  Armenians  73 

of  the  Armenian  bishops  was  convened  at  once  and 
it  was  unanimously  decided  to  defend  their  religion 
at  any  cost.  The  synod  also  agreed  upon  answering 
the  letter  of  the  grand  vizier  in  which  they  both 
refuted  the  charges  brought  against  Christianity,  un¬ 
dauntedly  defended  their  faith,  showing  the  absurd¬ 
ity  of  Zoroastrianism,  and  concluded  the  epistle  with 
these  words:  “From  this  belief  no  one  can  move  us, 
neither  angels  nor  men,  neither  fire  nor  sword,  nor 
water,  nor  any  other  horrid  torture,  however  they 
be  called.  All  our  goods  and  our  possessions  are 
before  thee,  dispose  of  them  as  thou  wilt,  and  if 
thou  only  leave  us  to  our  belief,  we  will  here  below 
choose  no  other  lord  in  Thy  place,  and  in  heaven 
have  no  other  God  but  Jesus  Christ,  for  there  is  no 
other  God  save  only  him.  But  shouldst  Thou  re¬ 
quire  something  beyond  this  great  testimony,  behold 
our  resolution ;  our  bodies  are  in  Thy  hands — do  with 
them  according  to  Thy  pleasure;  tortures  are  thine, 
and  patience  ours ;  Thou  hast  the  sword,  we  the  neck ; 
we  are  nothing  better  than  our  forefathers,  who, 
for  the  sake  of  their  faith,  resigned  their  goods,  pos¬ 
sessions  and  life.  Do  Thou,  therefore,  inquire  of  us 
nothing  further  concerning  these  things,  for  our  be¬ 
lief  originates  not  with  men,  we  are  not  taught  like 
children,  but  we  are  indissolubly  bound  to  God,  from 
whom  nothing  can  detach  us,  neither  now,  nor  here¬ 
after,  nor  for  ever,  and  ever.” 

As  soon  as  this  letter  arrived  at  the  royal  court 
of  Persia,  King  Yasgerd  read  it;  he  was  enraged  and 
summoned  the  Armenian  princes  immediately  to  re- 


74  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

pair  to  his  majesty’s  presence.  There  in  the  presence 
of  the  king  they  manifested  a  great  resolution  in 
their  faith,  for  which  they  were  ignominiously 
treated  and  confined  in  prison.  Having  been  threat¬ 
ened  while  in  their  confinement  they  devised  a 
scheme;  they  thought  it  is  better  to  apparently  com¬ 
ply  with  the  demands  of  the  king,  but  inwardly  to 
remain  true  to  their  convictions.  God,  who  is  able 
to  bring  good  out  of  evil,  indeed  did  so  in  this  case. 
When  it  was  made  known  to  the  king  that  the  Ar¬ 
menian  princes  were  willing  to  accept  his  terms, 
at  once  they  were  liberated  and  returned  with  dis¬ 
tinctions  to  their  homes.  And  a  large  army  with 
over  seven  hundred  magi  were  exultantly  marching 
on  to  Armenia  to  raze  to  the  ground  every  Christian 
Church  and  school  and  disciple  the  people  into  the 
mysterious  absurdities  of  Zoroastrianism. 

No  sooner  had  the  news  of  the  apostacy  of  the 
princes  reached  Armenia  than  the  bishops,  priests, 
and  the  laity  condemned  the  weakness  and  the  follv 

v 

of  the  princes.  When  the  princes  returned  to  Ar¬ 
menia  they  found  no  one  ready  or  willing  to  listen 
to  any  explanation,  but  everywhere  and  everybody 
was  ready  and  willing  to  defend  his  religion  at  the 
cost  of  his  life.  A  large  multitude,  made  up  of 
clergy  and  laity,  among  whom  were  many  women, 
gathered  for  immediate  action,  for  the  enemy  was 
marching  on.  Some  of  the  princes  could  not  endure 
the  contempt  of  the  people  nor  the  unrelenting  re¬ 
morse  of  their  consciences,  so  they  were  ready  to 
expiate  their  folly  at  any  cost. 


The  Conversion  of  the  Armenians  75 

Prince  Vartan,  the  Mamigomian,  was  unani¬ 
mously  appointed  the  commander-in-chief  of  the  Ar¬ 
menian  forces,  and  the  multitude — 66,000  volunteers 
— was  formed  into  three  divisions  and  each  division 
was  entrusted  to  a  prince,  Vartan,  Kershebuh  and 
Vasag.  All  knew  that  the  struggle  and  the  strife 
was  a  desperate  one.  But  brave  Vartan  and  the  rest 
were  not  dismayed,  though  they  knew  that  they  alone 
could  not  conquer  the  immense  army  of  the  enemy 
already  in  the  country,  with  a  small  and  inexperi¬ 
enced  force  of  his  own,  yet  there  was  no  other 
choice;  they  were  not  fighting  for  victory,  hut  for 
their  convictions  and  for  their  chosen  religion,  the 
religion  of  Christ. 

The  address  of  Vartan,  the  commander-in-chief, 
is  most  beautiful  and  touching:  “I  have  been,”  said 
he,  “in  many  battles,  and  you  also  with  me;  we  have 
sometimes  bravely  vanquished  the  foe;  sometimes 
they  vanquished  us,  but  on  all  these  occasions  we 
thought  only  of  worldly  distinction,  and  we  fought 
merely  at  the  command  of  a  mortal  king.  Behold, 
we  have  all  many  wounds  and  scars  upon  our  per¬ 
sons,  and  great  must  have  been  our  bravery  to  have 
won  these  great  marks  of  honor.  But  useless  and 
empty  I  deem  these  exploits  whereby  we  have  received 
these  honorable  marks,  for  they  pass  away.  If,  how¬ 
ever,  you  have  done  such  valiant  deeds  in  obedience 
to  a  mortal  ruler,  how  much  more  will  you  do  them 
for  our  immortal  King,  who  is  Lord  of  life  and 
death,  who  judges  every  one  according  to  his  works. 

“Kow,  therefore,  I  entreat  you,  my  brave  com- 


76  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

panions,  and  more  so  as  yon — albeit  in  bravery, 
worth,  and  inherited  honors  greater  than  I — have 
of  your  own  free  will  and  out  of  your  love  elected 
me  your  leader  and  chief ;  I  entreat  that  my  words 
may  be  favorably  received  by  the  high  and  the  low. 
Fear  not  the  numbers  of  the  heathen ;  withdraw  not 
necks  from  the  terrific  sword  of  a  mortal  man  in  order 
that  the  Lord  may  give  the  victory  into  our  hands, 
that  we  may  annihilate  their  power  and  lift  on  high 
the  standard  of  truth.” 

On  the  morning  of  the  day  (2d  of  June,  451,  old 
style)  of  the  battle  the  little  army  of  the  Holy 
League  received  the  Eucharist  (holy  communion) 
and  marched  on  with  these  words :  “May  our  death  be 
like  to  the  death  of  the  just,  and  may  the  shedding 
of  our  blood  resemble  the  bloodshedding  of  the 
prophets !  May  God  look  in  mercy  on  our  voluntary 
self-offering,  and  may  He  not  deliver  the  Church 
into  the  hands  of  the  heathen !” 

With  amazing  bravery  and  valor  must  they  have 
fought.  But  alas;  there  was  treachery  and  treason 
among  the  little  army  of  the  Holy  League.  Vasag, 
who  was  in  command  of  the  third  division  of  the 
Armenian  forces,  deserted  the  holy  cause  with  his 
force,  and  still  worse,  he  sided  with  the  enemy  and 
decided  the  battle  against  the  Armenians.  The  fall 
of  the  nobl6  commander  Vartan  and  some  others  also 
disheartened  the  rest.  Had  Vasag  not  acted  the  part 
of  Judas,  had  he  not  betrayed  his  Master  and  Mas¬ 
ter’s  cause  the  Armenians  would  have  achieved  a 
signal  victory  in  the  annals  of  Church  history,  and 


The  Conversion  of  the  Armenians  77 


also  might  have  regained  their  political  independence. 
The  fall  of  the  leaders  left  the  people  in  confusion, 
the  enemy  then  fell  upon  them,  seized  many  and  in¬ 
discriminately  slaughtered  them.  Many  of  the 
bishops  and  priests  were  captured,  some  were  mar¬ 
tyred  on  the  spot,  others  were  carried  to  Persia  and 
there  executed.  The  patriarch  Joseph,  in  whose 
character  and  life  shine  forth  piety,  courage,  and 
devotion,  was  one  of  those  carried  to  Persia. 

This  was  one  of  the  many  contests  which  the  Ar¬ 
menians  had  with  the  fire-worshiping  Persian.  The 
Armenians  were  defeated,  the  Persians  had  the  bat¬ 
tlefield,  but  the  real  victory,  the  moral  and  religious 
victory,  was  won  by  the  Armenians. 

Indeed  did  the  sons  and  daughters  of  Armenia 
prefer  a  Christian’s  grave  to  the  heathen’s  home. 

“Her  head  was  crowned  with  flowers, 

Her  feet  were  bathed  with  spray, 

Hers  were  the  land  of  Eden, 

The  cradle  of  our  race. 

“But  then  upon  her  borders, 

Shouted  the  Persian  horde: 

‘Fall  down  and  worship  fire, 

Or  perish  by  the  sword.’ 

“Then  up  sprang  Armenia 

And  raised  her  voice  on  high, 

And  back  to  haughty  Persia 
Rang  loud  the  warlike  cry: 

-  “I  will  not  be  a  heathen, 

I  will  not  be  a  slave, 

If  I  cannot  have  a  Christian’s  home, 

I’ll  find  a  Christian’s  grave.’  ” 


78  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

From  this  time  on  the  Armenians  have  never 
shrunk  from  defending  their  religion  and  rights 
against  any  odds.  If  they  have  no  way  to  defend 
these  rights  as  has  been  the  case  recently,  they  still 
would  rather  suffer  torture  and  death  than  purchase 
life  and  freedom  at  the  cost  of  principle  and  right. 

The  Persians,  after  their  conquest  of  Armenia, 
destroyed  many  of  the  churches  and  schools,  perse¬ 
cuted  the  Christians  with  indescribable  tortures  and 
cruelties,  and  forced  them  to  become  like  themselves, 
fire-worshipers.  The  Armenians,  in  return,  most 
cordially  hated  both  the  religion  of  Zoroaster  and  its 
defenders  and  teachers,  and  were  anxious  for  an  op¬ 
portunity  to  drive  out  these  usurpers  and  unwelcomed 
teachers  of  a  philosophized  religion,  spun  out  of  Zo¬ 
roaster’s  or  somebody  else’s  imagination.  Christi¬ 
anity  and  Zoroastrianism  had  many  a  battle  in  the 
land  of  Ararat,  until  the  latter,  in  total  despair,  was 
willing  to  submit  to  the  former,  on  some  amicable 
terms  to  be  suggested  by  a  brave  son  of  Armenia,  a 
worthy  member  of  the  house  of  Mamigonians.  This 
valiant  champion  of  Christianity  was  Vahan  Ma- 
migonian,  whose  father  and  uncle,  Prince  Vartan, 
led  the  Holy  League  in  battle  and  with  the  heroism 
and  courage  of  the  martyrs  defended  their  rights  and 
religion  and  had  sealed  their  testimony  to  the  truth 
of  Christianity  by  their  blood  in  that  battle. 

The  long-looked  for  opportunity  had  come;  the 
northern  provinces  rebelled  against  the  Persians ;  the 
latter,  therefore,  attempted  to  subdue  them.  The 
Armenians  availed  themselves  of  this  ample  occasion, 


The  Conversion  of  the  Armenians  79 

armed  themselves,  and  urged  Vahan  to  take  the  lead 
of  the  army  to  clear  out  the  country  of  the  troops 
of  the  enemy  left  there.  The  attempt  was  made. 
The  Persian  forces  stubbornly  resisted  the  Ar¬ 
menians,  but  several  reverses  had  convinced  them 
that  further  resistance  was  useless  and  when  a  new 
governor,  Kikhor,  was  appointed  by  Balas,  the  King 
of  Persia  (a.d.  485),  he,  instead  of  attacking  Vahan, 
who  held  almost  the  entire  country,  wished  to  come 
to  an  arrangement  agreeable  to  the  Armenians. 
Prince  Vahan,  therefore,  proposed  the  following 
terms : 

“1.  The  existing  fire-altars  should  be  destroyed, 
and  no  others  should  be  erected  in  Armenia. 

“2.  The  Armenians  should  he  allowed  the  free  and 
full  exercise  of  Christian  religion,  and  no  Armenian 
should  be  in  future  tempted  or  bribed  to  declare 
themselves  disciples  of  Zoroaster. 

“3.  If  converts  were  nevertheless  made  from  Chris¬ 
tianity  to  Zoroastrianism,  places  (of  honor)  should 
not  be  given  to  them. 

“4.  The  Persian  King  should  in  person  and  not 
by  deputy  administer  the  affairs  of  Armenia.”  1 

These  terms  proposed  by  Prince  Vahan  were  fa¬ 
vorably  received  by  Kikhor,  and  an  edict  of  tolera¬ 
tion  was  issued  and  proclaimed  that  every  one  be  at 
liberty  to  adhere  to  his  own  religion,  and  that  no 
one  should  be  driven  to  apostatize.  Afterwards 
Vahan  himself  was  appointed  by  the  king,  governor 
of  Armenia,  and  the  church  thus  enjoyed  a  period 
of  tranquillity  from  the  persecutions. 

^  i  Rawlinson,  “The  Seventh  Great  Oriental  Monarchy,”  pp.  334-4. 


THE  CONFLICTING  FOECES 


SOME  great  changes  were  slowly  taking  place 
in  the  East  as  well  as  in  the  West.  These 
changes  were  to  give  a  different  aspect  to 
the  history  of  future  nations.  As  we  have  seen  the 
Parthian  Empire  had  been  overthrown ;  Persia 
proper  regained  her  independence.  The  Parthian 
branch  of  the  Assacide  dynasty  in  Armenia  also 
came  to  an  end  after  a  reign  of  almost  six  centuries 
(150  b.c.-432  a.d.).  On  the  other  hand  the  Eoman 
Empire  was  too  large  to  be  under  one  emperor;  the 
leading  people  of  the  empire  were  divided  into  two, 
the  Greeks  and  the  Latins.  The  division  of  the 
empire  into  the  eastern  and  western  was  not  only 
natural,  but  also  desirable.  The  Greek  city  Byzan¬ 
tium  was  rebuilt  and  honorably  made  the  capital  of 
the  Eastern  empire,  and  called  Constantinople 1  after 
the  name  of  Emperor  Constantine  the  Great  (about 
a.d.  328).  This  metropolis  of  the  Eastern  Empire 
soon  became  a  worthy  rival  of  Eome,  both  in  civil 
and  ecclesiastical  matters. 

The  above  brief  survey  of  these  conflicting  forces 

1  According  to  ancient  authorities,  Byzantium  was  built  by  a  Grecian 
colony  about  658  b.c. 


SO 


The  Conflicting  Forces  81 

— and  others  which  will  be  mentioned  in  their  order 
— show  that  they  were  naturally  of  two  kinds, 
namely,  political  and  religious.  Though  we  may 
make  such  a  division,  and  even  admit,  that  politics 
can  be  divorced  from  religion,  yet  we  must  confess 
that  this  has  not  been  done  in  the  East  to  this  present 
time.  It  may  be,  therefore,  stated  that  Christianity, 
as  a  religion,  was,  and  is,  one  of  the  most  powerful 
of  the  conflicting  forces  in  the  East.  It  is  true  that 
its  Founder  is  called  the  Prince  of  Peace,  and  He 
was  and  is,  and  ever  shall  be,  yet  the  very  principles 
of  His  religion  uncompromisingly  militate  against 
the  domestic,  social  and  political  evils.  The  baser 
natures — many  of  them,  even  among  the  so-called 
Christians — therefore,  run  to  the  sword  to  settle 
their  disputes. 

The  enforcement  of  the  religion  of  Christ  upon 
the  millions  by  Constantine  or  other  emperors  did 
not  change  their  hearts.  It  is  to  our  credit  to  con¬ 
fess,  that  though  the  Armenians  nationally  accepted 
Christianity,  and  no  doubt  it  had  taken  a  firm  root 
in  the  hearts  of  the  most  of  the  people,  yet  there 
were  many  Vasags  that  had  clung  to  their  idols,  and 
had  not  failed  to  give  much  trouble  to  the  truly 
patriotic  followers  of  Christ.  It  was  due  to  this 
lack  of  true  Christianity  that  increased  troubles  arose 
between  the  Greek  and  Armenian  Christians. 

The  Greeks  feared  and  hated  the  Armenians,  for 
the  latter  were  in  alliance  with  the  Persians  when 
they  invaded  Greece;  and  later  the  conquests  of  the 
distinguished  monarchs  of  Armenia,  like  Tigranes 


82  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

the  Great  and  others,  over  the  Greeks,  recorded  by 
their  own  historians  in  a  more  exaggerated  manner 
than  by  the  Armenians  themselves,1  would  most 
naturally  make  them  to  foster  such  a  deep  rooted 
malice  in  their  hearts  and  cause  them  to  wish  for 
opportunities  to  avenge  themselves.  We  do  not  fail 
to  find  them  doing  so  whenever  an  opportunity  was 
offered  them. 

Hardly  would  Armenia  sound  pleasantly  to  the 
ear  of  the  Persian  any  longer.  Armenia  had  lived 
in  peace  with  Persia  for  centuries.  The  reason  of 
these  comparatively  peaceful  relations  between  these 
two  countries  was  two-fold ;  both  the  Armenians  and 
Persians  were  Aryans  and  co-religionists.  But  Ar¬ 
menia,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  preceding  chapter, 
had  apostatized  from  her  former  religion,  Zoroastian- 
ism,  and  forsaken  her  devotion  to  Magism.  The  re¬ 
vival  of  Zoroastrian  faith  and  its  enforcement  upon 
the  inhabitants  of  the  country  in  Persia  was  insisted 
upon  by  the  founder  of  the  Sassanian  dynasty.  In 
his  charge  to  his  son  and  successor  before  his  de¬ 
parture  from  this  life  Artaxerxes  dilated  on  the  sub¬ 
ject  of  religion,  maintaining  and  enforcing  it  upon 
the  Iran  or  non-Iran  to  become  worshipers  of  the 
Zoroastrian  faith  as  a  necessary  basis  for  the  stability 
of  the  empire.  His  successors  were  found  very 
faithful  and  zealous  in  their  endeavors  to  execute 
their  master’s  orders.  In  Armenia,  however,  the 
fire-temples  and  the  temples  of  the  leading  deities 

1  An  Armenian  historian  says,  Tigranes  translated  thirty  thousand 
inhabitants  of  Cappadocia,  the  Greek  historian  three  hundred  thousand. 


The  Conflicting  Forces  83 

were  swept  out  of  existence,  and  Christian  churches 
and  schools  were  established  all  over  the  country. 
Zoroastrianism  had  received  such  a  blow  from  the 
hand  of  King  Jesus  that  it  had  fallen  in  pieces,  like 
Dagon  of  Ashdod,  before  the  ark  of  the  Lord  in  the 
days  of  old,  and  now  seven  hundred  Magi  and  an 
immense  army  of  the  Persians  could  not  gather  its 
fragments  or  keep  the  fires  unquenched  on  its  altars 
in  Armenia. 

The  establishment  of  a  Christian  empire,  in  the 
West  by  the  Creeks,  would  most  naturally  force  upon 
the  P ersians  the  idea .  that  these  two  nations  now 
united  by  a  common  faith  will  be  their  formidable 
enemies.  But  how  naturally  do  the  heathen  think, 
and  how  unnaturally  do  the  so-called  Christians  act, 
is  shown  by  the  succeeding  events  of  the  conflicting 
forces  in  Western  Asia.  It  was  perfectly  natural  for 
the  Persians  to  think,  that  a  common  religion  or  faith 
should  produce  a  harmonious  relation  between,  and 
a  united  action  of,  these  two  nations.  Accordingly 
did  the  Persians  look  upon  the  Armenians  with  the 
profoundest  suspicion  and  dealt  towards  them  with 
relentless  cruelty. 

We  have  made  passing  reference  to  one  other  dis¬ 
turbing  cause,  namely,  some  of  the  nobility  in  Ar¬ 
menia,  unfortunately  not  being  in  full  sympathy 
with  the  faith  of  the  majority,  did  ignobly  act  by 
uniting  with  the  Persian  hordes  (whether  with  a 
mercenary  object  in  view  or  with  a  blind  zeal  for 
the  restoration  of  the  abolished  Zoroastrianism) , 
thus  aggravating  the  misery  of  their  own  people  and 


84  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

causing  much  bloodshed  in  the  country.  Such  per¬ 
sons  are  found  in  all  ages  and  among  all  nations, 
but  fortunately  have  not  been  many. 

It  will  be  impossible,  in  a  small  tvork  like  this  to 
enumerate  all  the  agencies,  the  internal  (and  not 
less  infernal),  and  the  external  and  occasional  causes 
which  precipitated  the  country  into  indescribable 
misery.  However,  we  have  endeavored  to  review 
some  of  these  facts,  which,  the  reader  bearing  in 
mind,  will  have  the  key  to  unlock  the  mystery  of  the 
Armenian  troubles  and  miseries. 

After  the  political  existence  of  Armenia  was 
brought  to  an  end,  the  country  was  divided  between 
the  Eastern  Empire  and  Persia,  the  former  having 
the  western  part  of  the  country,  and  the  eastern  part 
being  occupied  by  the  latter.  The  usurpers  of  Ar¬ 
menia  tried  to  govern  their  respective  possessions  by 
various  methods,  but  they  succeeded  better  when  they 
had  native  rulers,  or  princes  had  their  contingent 
forces  under  them.  Whenever  their  respective  sov¬ 
ereigns  called  upon  them  to  assist  in  their  wars, 
they  responded  with  readiness.  There  was,  however, 
this  trouble  in  either  province:  the  ever-ready  en¬ 
deavor  on  the  one  hand  to  bring  the  independent 
Armenian  church  under  the  influence  of  the  Greek 
Church;  and  in  the  Persian  province  of  Armenia, 
under  some  fanatic  rulers,  who  attempted  to  apos¬ 
tatize  them  from  their  chosen  faith;  otherwise  the 
Armenians  seemed  to  have  enjoyed  a  tolerable  free¬ 
dom.  This  form  of  government  lasted  until  new 


The  Conflicting  Forces  85 

actors  and  more  conflicting  forces  began  to  appear  on 
the  stage. 

A  new  and  a  more  formidable  force  than  Zoroas¬ 
trianism  made  its  appearance  in  the  form  of  a  re¬ 
ligion  in  the  East.  Western  Asia  seems  to  Have  been 
made  for  a  theater  and  almost  all  the  great  actors 
in  the  annals  of  the  dramatic  history  of  the  world 
enacted  their  roles  there.  Towards  the  close  of  the 
sixth  century  the  sunny  and  sandy  plains  of  Arabia 
became  the  home  of  a  male  child  who  was  to  be  a 
hero,  a  warrior,  a  law-giver,  and  the  founder  of  a 
new  religion  which  shaped  the  destiny  of  millions 
of  human  beings  and  flooded  many  a  country  with 
the  blood  of  its  inhabitants.  “Mohammed,  half  im¬ 
poster,  half  enthusiast,  enunciated  a  doctrine,  and 
by  decrees  worked  out  a  religion,  which  proved 
capable  of  uniting  in  one  the  scattered  tribes  of 
the  Arabian  desert,  while  at  the  same  time  it  in¬ 
spired  them  with  a  confidence,  a  contempt  for  death, 
and  a  fanatic  valor,  that  rendered  them  irresistible 
by  the  surrounding  nations.”  1  This  self-made  and 
self-called  apostle  of  Arabia,  Mohammed,  had  the 
greatest  difficulty  in  finding  few  adherents  in  his 
native  city,  Mecca,2  he  found  the  opposition  to  his 
claims  too  great  and  his  life  in  danger  and  fled  to 
Medina,  where  he  received  a  welcome.  At  the  head 
of  his  adherents  he  commenced  to  attack  unawares 
wayfaring  merchants  on  their  way  from  the  northern 

1  Rawlinson,  “The  Seventh  Oriental  Monarchy,”  p.  546. 

*  Mohammed  waa  born  in  Mecca  570,  he  fled  to  Medina  622.  “Hegira” 
(the  flight),  and  he  died  in  the  latter  city  a.d.  632,  after  two  weeks  of  in¬ 
tense  suffering  which  began  before  his  death.  See  Chap  XII,  p.  204. 


86  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

countries ;  of  course,  seeing  that  these  merchants  are 
of  his  former  opponents.  The  plunder  and  the  booty 
taken  from  the  robbed  or  conquered  were  freely  dis¬ 
tributed  among  his  followers.  This  surely  was  a 
great  inducement  to  the  pillage-loving  and  war¬ 
delighting  Arabs  to  swell  the  army  of  Mohammed. 
His  followers  have  been  doing  the  same  ever  since, 
unless  restrained  by  a  superior  force.  Arabia,  Pales¬ 
tine,  Syria,  Mesopotamia,  and  Persia,  one  after  the 
other,  within  a  comparatively  short  time,  fell  under 
the  sway  of  the  followers  of  Mohammed. 

Bagdad  was  made  the  capital  of  the  successors,  or 
Caliphs  of  Mohammed,  from  whence  the  hordes  of 
Arabs  or  Saracens — so  were  they  called  by  the  west¬ 
ern  writers — spread  death  and  destruction  east,  west, 
and  north.  The  first  Saracenic  invasion  into  Ar¬ 
menia  took  place  during  the  caliphate  of  Omar 
(a.d.  640),  under  the  generalship  of  Abdurahman, 
who  marched  through  Assyria  and  entered  Armenia 
unopposed.  Diran  Mamiganian  with  some  difficulty 
mustered  a  small  force  hardly  as  large  as  one-third 
of  that  of  the  enemy,  hut  he  made  a  noble  defense 
of  his  country  against  the  new  enemy  of  the  home 
and  religion.  Alas !  in  the  little  army  of  Diran  there 
was  another  like  Yasag,  a  man  by  the  name  Sahurr, 
who  hastened  the  defeat  and  the  annihilation  of  noble 
Diran’s  little  force;  the  fire  and  the  sword  of  the 
enemy  soon  swept  the  country.  Abdurahman  re¬ 
turned  to  Bagdad  with  35,000  Armenian  captives. 

The  Saracenic  policy  was  quite  different  from  that 
of  the  Persians.  The  latter  were  not  so  intensely 


87 


The  Conflicting  Forces 

cruel,  and  were  anxious  to  unify  the  two  peoples  by 
the  enforcement  of  their  religion  upon  the  Ar¬ 
menians..  But  the  Saracens  were  the  very  proto¬ 
type  of  the  Turks  in  cruelty  and  in  oppression.  They 
kept  on  their  regular  incursions  and  inroads  into  the 
country  at  short  intervals,  and  spread  death  and 
destruction,  and  carried  many  away  as  captives  or 
hostages ;  these  captives  and  hostages  were  often 
forced  to  become  Mohammedans,  or  they  were  mas¬ 
sacred.  A  picture  drawn  by  the  wildest  imagination 
will  fall  far  below  the  suffering  of  the  people  and  the 
atrocities  of  the  followers  of  Mohammed.  The  Ar¬ 
menians  were  often  willing  to  let  everything  else  go 
if  they  were  left  with  their  preferred  faith,  the 
religion  of  Christ.  Even  then  they  were  not  left 
alone.  They  often,  compelled  to  do  so,  took  arms 
to  defend  their  religion  and  rights  and  perished, 
sword  in  hand.  Thus  it  was  and  is  since  the  intro¬ 
duction  of  Christianity  into  Armenia:  “The  history 
of  Armenia  presents  hut  a  melancholy  picture  to  the 
friend  of  humanity.  Rapacious  neighbors,  the  ene¬ 
mies  of  Christianity,  found  a  theater  for  their  un¬ 
heard-of  cruelties  and  oppressions  in  that  beauteous 
land,  the  inhabitants  of  which  were  equally  exposed 
to  the  outrages  of  Paganism  and  Islam.” 

The  condition  of  the  provinces  of  Armenia  gov¬ 
erned  by  the  Creeks  was  hardly  better.  The  Sara¬ 
cens  were  pushing  their  way  northward  and  west¬ 
ward.  The  Greeks  were  becoming  unbearable  on 
account  of  their  prejudices  and  persecutions  occa¬ 
sioned  by  such  comparatively  trifling  differences 


88  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

from  the  Greek  Church,  in  the  rituals  and  ceremonies 
of  the  Armenian  Church.  The  state  of  things, 
indeed,  was  in  a  most  deplorable  condition. 

The  Armenians  were  subdued  and  ruled  over  with 
a  rod  of  iron,  by  the  Saracens,  but  they  were  by  no 
means  completely  conquered  or  crushed.  The  love  for 
independence  and  self  government  was  still  rife  in 
them.  They  made  several  attempts  at  different  times 
to  revolt.  Their  attempts  failed  and  they  paid  dearly 
for  them.  But  towards  the  middle  of  the  ninth  cen¬ 
tury  the  reign  of  the  Caliphs  of  Bagdad  was  weak¬ 
ened  by  dissensions.  A  prince  of  the  Pagradit  fam¬ 
ily  had  proved  himself  very  prudent  as  a  governor 
of  Armenia,  so  much  so  that  he  had  received  from 
the  Caliph  the  title  of  “Prince  of  Princes,”  in  859, 
and  in  885  he  was  crowned  as  Xing  of  Armenia. 
Ashdod  I  the  King  of  Armenia  was  the  first  of  the 
Pagradit  (Pagradeonian)  dynasty. 

The  Pagradit  family  was  old,  influential  and  rich, 
according  to  our  Herodotus,  Moses  of  Khoren,  King 
H’rache  brought  a  small  colony  of  the  Hebrews 
from  Judea  when  he  returned  with  the  armies  of 
Nebuchadnezzar  in  b.c.  597, 1  and  a  prince  by  the 
name  Shampat  was  the  head  of  this  Pagradit  family. 
This  dynasty  lasted  only  from  885-1045,  and  had  a 
stormy  time,  yet  it  shows  what  a  grand  and  glorious 
period  it  must  have  been.  Hundreds  of  churches 
in  the  city  of  Ani  and  its  suburbs,  magnificent  castles, 
palaces,  forts  and  numerous  defenses  of  the  city 
and  throughout  the  country,  though  to-day  in  ruins, 


1  See  p.  52. 


The  Conflicting  Forces  89 

eloquently  declare  the  glory  of  the  Pagradit  dynasty 
of  Armenia  in  the  middle  ages„ 

There  is  something  marvelous  in  the  annals  of  the 
Armenian  history.  Though  they  are  surrounded  by 
hostile  and  uncivilized  nations  and  with  such  internal 
and  infernal  dissensions  and  contentions,  yet  the 
spirit  of  bravery,  courage  and  unconquerable  love 
of  liberty,  as  it  were,  sprang  up  from  the  very  ashes 
and  the  dust  of  the  burnt  and  ruined  cities  and 
towns ;  yea,  even  from  the  carcass-covered  and  blood- 
drenched  soil  of  Armenia.  Thus  it  was  that  during 
this  dynasty  a  marvelous  civilization  flourished  amid 
the  savage  and  barbarous  nations,  and  this  dynasty 
would  have  maintained  its  independence  to  the  pres- 
sent  had  the  rulers  found  any  sympathy  or  toleration 
in  the  western  Christian  nations. 

It  was  in  the  period  of  this  dynasty  that  the 
Mongolian  Tatar  tribes,  who  were  scattered  over  the 
plains  and  table-lands  of  central  and  northern  Asia, 
began  to  move  westward  in  search  of  plunder  and 
pasture-lands.  These  tribes  had  distinctive  names 
in  their  own  country,  but  after  leaving  that  they 
began  to  be  denominated  by  the  names  of  their  lead¬ 
ers,  like  Seljukians,  after  Seljuk;  Othmanlis  or  Ost- 
manlis,  after  Orthman  or  Osman.  They  were  pas¬ 
toral  in  their  occupations;  warlike  in  disposition; 
rapacious  and  predatory  in  their  habits;  nomadic  in 
their  mode  of  life,  and  surely  pagans  in  practice 
of  religion.  They  first  settled  in  Persia,  and  there 
they  came  in  contact  with  the  religion  of  Mohammed. 
They  accepted  it  and  entered  the  Mohammedan 


90  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

army.  They  excelled  the  Arabs  in  enthusiasm,  in 
intolerance,  and  cruelty,  especially  upon  the  Chris¬ 
tians.  Indeed,  the  entry  of  the  Mongolian  hordes, 
or  the  Turks  into  Western  Asia  was  and  still  is  the 
worst  of  all  evils  and  the  severest  of  all  the  calamities 
that  ever  was  inflicted  upon  the  Armenians  or  any 
other  Christian  nation  in  western  Asia. 

But  the  downfall  of  that  dynasty  which  had  main¬ 
tained  its  existence  over  a  century  and  a  half  was 
not  brought  about  by  the  hands  of  the  merciless 
Arabs,  nor  even  by  those  of  the  barbarous  Turks, 
though  cruel  and  savage  they  were.  In  those  days, 
they  did  not  often  do  with  treachery  what  they  could 
not  with  bravery.  Even  the  Turks  were  somewhat 
more  honest  than  they  are  now. 

Cakig,1  the  last  king  of  this  dynasty,  had  made 
himself  both  popular  and  beloved  on  account  of  his 
just  and  wise  administration  of  the  government.  The 
Greek  Emperor,  Monamaches,  demanded  from  Ca¬ 
kig  for  some  pretense  the  surrender  of  the  Capital 
Ani.  Cakig’s  reply  to  the  Emperor  was  “I  can 
never  he  prevailed  upon  quietly  to  relinquish  my 
paternal  inheritance  to  any  individual.”  Hereupon 
the  emperor  sent  a  large  force  against  the  king; 
however,  the  troops  were  defeated.  He  again  tried 
by  force  to  accomplish  his  object,  but  his  attempt 
was  unsuccessful;  he  then  entered  into  an  alliance 
with  the  Mohammedan  governor  of  the  districts  bor¬ 
dering  on  the  provinces  of  Cakig  to  ruin  the  latter; 

1  The  Kings  of  this  dynasty:  Ashod  I,  Sumpat  I,  Ashod  II,  Abas,  Ashod 
III,  Sumpat  II,  Cakig  I,  John  Sumpat,  Cakig  II. 


The  Conflicting  Forces  91 

but  this  also  proved  to  be  a  failure.  Then  the  em¬ 
peror  pretended  to  be  appeased  and  entered  into 
friendship,  inviting  the  king  on  a  visit  to  Con¬ 
stantinople.  Cakig  doubted  the  apparent  friendship 
and  the  sincerity  of  the  emperor,  but  alas,  some  of 
his  chiefs  who  had  conspired  against  him  and  were 
sharers  of  the  guilt  of  the  emperor  prevailed  upon 
him.  Confiding  in  the  solemn  assurances  of  the 
emperor,  and  in  compliance  with  the  requests  of  his 
chiefs,  he  went  to  Constantinople.  First  he  was 
exiled  by  this  perfidious  emperor  to  an  island,  then 
to  Asia  Minor.  This  dethroned  king,  deprived  of 
his  rightful  crown  and  scepter  and  paternal  inherit¬ 
ance,  after  a  period  of  thirty-five  years  of  exile,  was 
assassinated  by  the  Greeks. 

While  King  Cakig  was  an  exile  the  Greeks  took 
possession  of  the  capital,  the  City  of  Ani,  and  a 
large  territory.  The  Seljinkian  Turks,  who  had 
settled  themselves  in  Persia,  were  increasing  in  num¬ 
ber  and  in  power,  finding  the  country  in  a  defense¬ 
less  condition,  invaded  Armenia.  At  this  first  in¬ 
cursion  they  desolated  twenty-four  provinces ;  at  their 
second  attack  ruined  many  cities  and  towns  and  car¬ 
ried  an  immense  number  of  the  inhabitants  into  cap¬ 
tivity.  In  the  third,  they  laid  siege  to  the  city  of 
Arzu,  where  many  had  taken  refuge,  it  being  a  walled 
city.  The  inhabitants  made  a  desperate  resistance, 
but  the  enemy  was  too  strong,  and  the  Armenians, 
too  fatigued  to  fight  any  longer,  surrendered.  The 
Seljukian  Turks,  after  having  taken  possession  of 
the  city,  displayed  a  barbarism  which  was  a  true 


92  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

example  and  an  equal  to  those  of  later  cruelties  of 
the  Mongolian  Tatars.  Of  the  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  inhabitants  and  those  who  had  taken  refuge 
in  the  city,  some  were  butchered  in  cold  blood,  some 
were  roasted  to  death,  and  the  rest  carried  into  cap- 
tivity.  This  doleful  calamity,  one  of  many,  took 
place  in  the  year  of  our  Lord,  1049. 

Several  times  during  every  year,  the  Seljukian 
Turks  and  Tatars  repeated  their  incursions,  devas¬ 
tated  and  plundered  the  country,  and  indiscrimi¬ 
nately  massacred  the  people  or  enslaved  them.  Tog- 
rul  Beg,  for  fourteen  years,  before  he  went  to  meet 
the  Judge  of  Nations,  tormented,  tortured  and  butch¬ 
ered  the  Christian  Armenians,  and  dyed  the  land 
of  Ararat  crimson  with  the  blood  of  her  inhabitants. 
These  persecutions  and  massacres  compelled  the  peo¬ 
ple  to  migrate  into  safer  districts.  Some  of  the  Ar¬ 
menian  princes  who  were  assuming  royal  titles,  in¬ 
stead  of  uniting  their  forces  against  a  common 
enemy,  fell  prey  to  the  foe,  or  exchanged  their  vast 
territories  with  the  Greek  emperor  for  other  prov¬ 
inces.  Thus  King  Sennecherib  transferred  his  im¬ 
mense  estates  of  Yaspuragian  and  took  instead  of 
them  the  city  of  Sebastea  (now  Sivas)  and  the 
country  about  it,  extending  to  the  banks  of  the 
Euphrates  on  the  east. 

The  Armenians  were  rapidly  increasing  in  the 
provinces  of  Cappadocia  and  Cilicia  on  account  of 
the  irequent  invasions  and  incursions  of  the  Selju¬ 
kian  Turks.  Alp  Arslan,  the  nephew  of  Togrul  Beg, 
succeeded  him  1063.  In  the  following  year,  Arp 


The  Conflicting  Forces  93 

Arslan  (valiant  lion)  invaded  Armenia,  laid  siege 
to  the  royal  city  of  Ami,  and  took  it.  “It  is  im¬ 
possible  to  describe  the  destruction  and  slaughter 
wrought  by  the  hands  of  these  barbarians,  the  blood 
of  thousands  and  ten  thousands  dyed  the  waters  of 
Aphour  (the  river  that  runs  through  the  city),  and 
the  magnificent  buildings  were  set  on  fire,  and  nu¬ 
merous  bodies,  the  carcasses,  were  covered  under  the 
ashes  and  ruins.”  1  Arp  Arslan  invaded  Armenia, 
again,  in  battle  against  the  Greeks  and  captured  em¬ 
peror  Eomanus  Diogenes  (1071)  and  wrested  the 
entire  country  from  the  Greeks.  His  fearful  career 
came  to  an  end  by  the  dagger  of  a  captive  enemy  in 
the  following  year  in  Turkestan.  His  son,  Malick 
Shah,  succeeded  him,  and  extended  the  empire  from 
the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean  on  the  west  to  the 
borders  of  China  on  the  east.  aIn  religion  Seljukian 
sovereigns  surpassed  the  other  moslems  of  their  age 
in  fierce  intolerance,  and  thereby  inadvertently  pro¬ 
voked  the  famous  Crusades  of  the  western  nations. 
Upon  wresting  Jerusalem  for  a  time  from  the  do¬ 
minion  of  the  Egyptian  Calipths,  they  visited  with 
such  hardships  the  resident  and  pilgrim  Christians, 
that  Europe  armed  for  their  deliverance  from  op¬ 
pression.”  2 

Many  of  the  Armenians,  driven  by  these  powerful 
invaders  and  oppressors,  had  made  their  way  into 
Cappadocia  and  Cilicia,  and  both  in  the  plains  and 
also  in  the  Tauros  Mountain  districts  they  formed 

1  Balasanian,  "History  of  Armenia,”  p.  285.  (This  work  is  written  in 
Armenian  langauge.) 

2 Milner,  "The  Turkish  Empire,”  p.  5. 


94  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

a  strong  colony.  A  young  man,  who  was  a  relative 
and  a  companion  with  two  others,  of  the  unfortunate 
King  Cakig,  had  made  his  escape  from  the  plans  of 
the  assassins  who  intended  to  kill  these  also  after 
they  had  done  away  with  the  king,  found  refuge  in 
the  mountains.  This  man,  whose  name  was  Reuben, 
was  a  center  of  attraction  among  the  Armenians,  a 
man  of  warlike  disposition  and  personal  prowess,  and 
bent  on  vengeance.  He  resided  with  his  son  Con¬ 
stantine  in  Cilicia ;  his  condition  must  have  been  very 
much  like  that  of  David  when  he  was  a  fugitive  from 
the  face  of  Saul.  Keuben  cautiously  avoided  con¬ 
flicts  with  the  Greeks  when  he  was  not  sure  of  suc¬ 
cess,  but  such  contests  that  he  had  with  them  he 
was  invariably  victorious.  He  attacked  and  wrested 
the  fortress  of  Parzherpert  (lofty  fort),  and  from 
this  time  (a.d.  1080)  he  styled  himself  Reuben  the 
First,  assuming  independent  reign  over  the  Arme¬ 
nians,  who  were  increasing  year  by  year.  Thus 
began  the  Keubenian  dynasty  of  the  Armenians  in 
Cilicia. 

It  was  during  the  reign  of  Constantine,  the  son 
and  successor  of  Reuben  I,  that  the  immense  army 
of  the  Crusaders  for  the  first  time  marched  into 
Western  Asia,  took  the  city  of  Nice  and  various 
other  places,  and  laid  siege  to  Antioch.  But  a  ter¬ 
rible  famine  broke  out  in  their  camp.  When  Con¬ 
stantine  and  his  chiefs  were  informed  of  the  con¬ 
dition  of  the  Crusaders,  he  sent  an  abundance  of 
provisions  to  the  army  of  the  defenders  of  the  Cross. 
This  last  dynasty  of  the  Armenians  in  Cilicia  covers 


The  Conflicting  Forces  95 

a  period  of  almost  three  centuries.  It  was  by  no 
means  in  a  favorable  condition,  while  Western  Asia 
was  in  a  fearful  turmoil  and  agitation,  the  conflicting 
forces  by  no  means  disappearing. 

The  Seljukian  Turks,  after  losing  their  capital, 
Nice,  made  Iconium  (which  over  ten  centuries  be¬ 
fore  had  listened  to  the  famous  missionaries,  Paul 
and  Barnabas,  tell  the  story  of  the  Cross)  their  cap¬ 
ital,  and  made  it  resound  with  the  “ezzen”  of  the 
“Muezzin”  from  the  numerous  minarets.  It  became 
a  source  of  great  trouble  to  the  Armenians.  The 
Greeks,  inflamed  with  like  hatred  and  malice  as 
before,  were  more  or  less  in  constant  conflict  with 
them.  The  Armenians,  over-exultant  on  account  of 
the  presence  of  the  Christian  forces  of  the  Western 
nations  in  the  East,  were  willing  to  enlist  in  aid 
of  their  cause  by  entering  into  an  alliance  with 
them,  but  by  doing  so  they  intensified  the  jealousy 
and  hatred  of  the  Greeks  and  the  wrathful  cruelty 
of  the  Turks.  Moreover,  the  suspicions  of  some  that 
these  foreigners  were  anxious  to  bring  the  Armenian 
church  under  the  control  of  the  Pope  of  Pome  were 
sustained  by  the  facts  revealed  in  due  time. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  give  a  sample  of  the  zeal 
of  the  Armenians  in  their  effort  to  assist  the  Cru¬ 
saders  and  the  consequences:  King  Leo  I  of  Cilicia 
was  in  an  alliance  with  the  Latin  princes  of  Antioch. 
The  emperor  of  Constantinople  was  bent  on  recover¬ 
ing  that  famous  city  from  the  Crusaders.  Conse¬ 
quently  to  accomplish  his  purpose  he  marched  on  to 
Cilicia  with  a  large  army.  The  emperor  and  his 


96  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

generals  seem  to  have  been  strategists  and  good  war¬ 
riors.  They  wrested  the  city  of  Antioch  and  reduced 
many  Cilician  provinces  and  took  Leo  and  his  two 
sons,  Reuben  and  Toros,  captives  and  carried  them 
to  Constantinople  (1136).  The  cruel  Greeks,  after 
tormenting  and  torturing  their  captives,  deprived  the 
crown-prince,  Reuben,  of  his  eye-sight,  then,  still 
not  satisfied,  they  put  him  to  death  in  the  presence 
of  his  father,  the  king.  This  barbarity  so  affected 
him  that  he  died  heart-broken  in  his  dungeon  (1141). 
The  history  of  Armenia  presents  a  melancholy  pic¬ 
ture  to  the  friend  of  humanity  and  Christianity; 
especially  when  you  find  some  so-called  Christians 
worse  than  pagans,  you  still  feel  thankful  that  they 
are  at  least  nominally  Christians;  what  would  have 
happened  if  they  were  heathen?  Arp  Arslan  did 
not  treat  Emperor  Romanus  in  that  manner,  because 
he  was  not  a  Greek  Christian. 

A  new  tremendous  army  of  the  Mongolians,  under 
the  command  of  Genghis  Khan,  made  its  appearance 
in  Western  Asia;  and  spread  all  over  Persia,  Arme¬ 
nia,  Caucasus,  Russia,  and  part  of  Asia  Minor  de¬ 
struction,  devastation,  and  death;  committing  whole¬ 
sale  massacres,  consuming  the  cities  and  towns  by 
fire,  and  carrying  away  hundreds  and  thousands  into 
captivity.  “ Seven  years  in  succession  was  the  con¬ 
queror  (Genghis  Khan)  busy  in  the  work  of  destruc¬ 
tion,  pillage,  and  subjugation,  and  extended  his 
ravages  to  the  banks  of  the  Dnieper.”  Armenia  has 
been,  over  and  over,  inundated  with  the  blood  of  her 
inhabitants,  enriched  with  the  carcasses  of  her  people 


97 


The  Conflicting  Forces 

upon  her  face;  her  beautiful  and  bright  sky  was 
often  rendered  dark  by  the  smoke  of  the  conflagra¬ 
tions  of  her  immense  cities  and  numerous  towns, 
kindled  by  her  enemies;  her  fair  sons  and  graceful 
daughters  were  torn  away  from  her  maternal  bosom, 
carried  into  captivity  and  sold  for  slaves;  her  mag¬ 
nificent  churches  and  monasteries  were  converted  into 
mosques  and  “tekes.”  Yet  the  “The  House  of  Togar- 
mah”  marches  on  through  these  tremendous  seas  of 
injustice,  oppression,  persecution,  cruelty,  and  blood¬ 
shed,  from  a  remote  antiquity  to  the  end  of  the  four¬ 
teenth  century  of  our  era,  lifting  up  the  old,  cen¬ 
turies-old  flag  of  liberty,  torn  to  pieces  and  ready 
to  fall  into  an  irreparable  dissolution. 

Toros,  the  son  of  the  unfortunate  King  Leo  I, 
effected  his  escape  from  the  Greek  army  and  returned 
to  Cilicia  (1145).  He  gathered  about  him  a  nucleus 
and  gradually  recovered  Cilicia  from  the  Greeks  and 
after  a  reign  of  twenty-three  years,  he  died  in  peace 
(1168).  Beuben  II  succeeded  his  uncle,  Mileh,  and 
reigned  until  his  retirement  in  1185,  and  his  brother 
Leo  II  followed  him.  It  was  during  the  reign  of 
Leo  II  that  Saladin,  the  sultan  of  Egypt,  captured 
Jerusalem  from  the  Crusaders  (1187),  a  terrible 
slaughter  of  the  Christians  had  been  committed  by 
the  defender  of  the  Mohammedan  faith,  which  caused 
the  western  nations  to  call  for  the  third  crusade, 
headed  by  Frederick  I,  surnamed  Barbarossa,  a  Ger¬ 
man  emperor  of  Borne.  He  marched  with  his  army 
opposed  by  the  Greek  emperor  and  the  sultan  of 
Iconium.  From  the  latter  place  he  sent  a  letter  to 


98  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

Leo  II,  asking  his  assistance  and  telling  of  his  need 
of  supplies.  Leo,  Catholicos  and  Bishop  Nerses, 
with  abundant  provisions,  set  out  to  meet  him.  But 
they  did  not  have  the  pleasure  of  seeing  him;  for 
he  was  drowned  while  crossing  a  stream.  What  a 
pity!  He  was  going  to  fight  in  defense  of  the  Ori¬ 
ental  Christians,  not  to  put  a  crown  on  Saladin’s 
head,  nor  a  wreath  on  his  tomb  ;  he  was  not  going 
to  offer  his  unsought-for  friendship  to  the  blood¬ 
thirsty  followers  of  Mohammed,  neither  was  he  going 
to  encourage  them  to  massacre  the  lowly  followers 
of  the  lowly  Nazarene.  Yet  he  was  drowned.  Surely 
“God  moves  in  a  mysterious  way  His  wonders  to 
perform.”  We  do  not  question  His  wisdom  nor  His 
goodness. 

No  doubt  the  object  of  the  popes,  who  urged  the 
Western  sovereigns  to  raise  crusades  against  the  Mo¬ 
hammedans,  and  kept  them  engaged  in  this  unsuc¬ 
cessful  enterprise  for  a  long  time  at  the  expense  of 
immense  wealth  and  the  sacrifice  of  millions  of 
human  lives,  was  two-fold;  to  exercise  their  sub¬ 
lunary  power  over  these  potentates,  and  to  further 
their  influence  over  other  Christian  nations  in  the 
East.  But  they  failed  in  both  of  these  purposes. 
There  came  a  time  when  the  popes  had  no  influence 
over  the  kings  of  Europe.  And  the  Crusaders  in 
the  East  rendered  their  names  detestable  forever, 
both  to  Christians  and  to  non-Christians. 

“In  1204  a.d.,  the  Capital  (Constantinople)  was  cap¬ 
tured  by  the  Crusaders,  whose  conduct  fixed  an  indelible 
stain  upon  the  name  of  the  Franks  throughout  the  East, 


The  Conflicting  Forces  99 

especially  as  it  is  contrasted  with  that  of  the  Moham¬ 
medans,  who,  a  few  years  before,  had  conquered  Jeru¬ 
salem.  When  Saladin  entered  the  latter  city  the  church 
of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  was  respected,  and  the  conquered 
Christians  remained  in  possession  of  their  property ; 
no  confiscations  were  made  of  the  wealth  of  the  non- 
combatants.  But  the  vaunted  chivalry  of  the  Papal 
church  plundered  a  Christian  city  without  remorse, 
desecrated  its  shrines,  and  maltreated  its  inhabitants, 
while  the  profane  cry  of  ‘God  Wills  It/  was  raised  to 
excite  each  other  to  act  the  part  of  brigands  and  de¬ 
bauchees.  Sacred  plate,  golden  images  of  saints,  and 
silver  candelabra  from  the  altars  ;  bronze  statues  of 
heathen  idols  and  heroes,  precious  works  of  Hellenic 
art;  crowns,  coronets,  thrones,  vessels  of  gold  and  silver; 
ornaments  of  diamonds,  pearls,  and  precious  stones  from 
the  imperial  treasury  and  the  palaces  of  the  nobles; 
jewelry  and  precious  metals  from  the  shops  of  the  gold¬ 
smiths;  silks,  velvets  and  brocaded  tissues  from  the 
warehouses  of  the  merchants,  together  with  coined 
money,  were  accumulated  in  vast  heaps  as  spoils  to  be 
divided  by  the  victors.  A  few  of  the  crusading  clergy 
endeavored  to  moderate  the  fury  which  the  bigoted 
prejudices  of  the  Latin  Church  had  instilled  into  the 
minds  of  the  soldiery  against  the  Greeks,  but  many 
priests  were  as  forward  as  the  most  abandoned  of  the 
troops  in  robbing  the  temples  of  a  kindred  faith.5' 1 

Our  Saviour's  words  were  literally  fulfilled ;  with 
what  measure  the  Greeks  so  often  had  measured  and 
dealt  with  the  Armenian,  it  was  meted  to  them  by 
the  hands  of  the  Crusaders;  yet  such  a  conduct  of 
the  Crusaders  with  the  Christian,  and  undoubtedly 
a  conduct  a  good  deal  worse  than  this  towards  Mo¬ 
hammedans,  accounts  for  the  determination  and  fury 

1  Milner,  “  The  Turkish  Empire,”  London,  pages  238-9. 


100  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

of  the  latter  against  the  Christians.  The  reply  of 
Meleck  Nasr  Mohmud,  the  Egyptian  Sultan,  to  an 
application  of  the  Armenian  king  Leo  V,  for  a  treaty 
of  peace  was  the  following:  “I  will  never  make 
peace  with  you  until  you  promise  on  oath  not  to 
hold  any  correspondence  or  communication  with 
Western  nations.”  Often  did  the  Mohammedan 
powers  imagine  that  the  Armenians  had  again  stirred 
up  the  Western  nations,  that  they  were  marching 
against  them  in  greater  forces  than  ever  before,  and 
then  they  would  attack  the  cities  and  towns  of  the 
Armenians  and  commit  all  manner  of  atrocities, 
thinking  that  that  might  be  their  last  opportunity. 

After  the  withdrawal  of  the  Western  nations — or 
rather  their  being  driven  out  from  the  East — in  full 
satisfaction  of  their  complete  failure,  either  to  main¬ 
tain  their  position  or  ameliorate  the  oppressed  con¬ 
dition  of  the  Oriental  Christians  under  the  Moham¬ 
medans,  the  latter  had  first  little  difficulty  in  destroy¬ 
ing  the  independence  of  the  Armenians  in  Cilicia. 
By  various  incursions  of  the  Mohammedans  of  Egypt 
into  Cilicia,  the  Armenians  were  reduced  in  strength 
and  in  numbers;  finally  a  vast  army  of  the  enemy 
marched  against  them.  Those  missionary  soldiers 
of  Mohammed,  indeed  brutes  in  character  and  nature, 
though  clad  in  clayey  garments  of  human  forms, 
spread  themselves  all  over  the  country.  No  city, 
town,  or  village,  or  building  of  any  value,  whether 
church,  monastery  or  dwelling,  and  no  human  being 
of  any  age  or  either  sex  that  fell  into  their  hands, 
was  spared ;  they  slaughtered  every  human  being  and 


The  Conflicting  Forces  101 

burnt  to  ashes  every  building  or  razed  it  to  the 
ground.  In  the  execution  of  their  unfortunate  vic¬ 
tims  they  did  not  leave  any  mode  of  torture  untried. 
“The  deceitful  above  all  things  and  desperately 
wicked  heart”  of  a  depraved  human  creature  could 
not  have  suggested  any  other  method  of  torment  and 
torture  that  these  Mohammedans  did  not  devise  and 
experiment  upon  their  captives.  The  Turks  of  to¬ 
day  must  have  been  studying  their  predecessors  in 
faith  and  practice.  King  Leo  VI  and  the  garrison 
surrendered  on  condition  that  their  lives  would  be 
spared ;  the  Egyptian  general  promised  this  on  oath ; 
Leo  was  fettered,  and  with  his  family  carried  to 
Cairo  in  the  eleventh  year  of  his  reign  (a.d.  1375). 

The  king  and  family,  after  serving  a  period  of 
imprisonment  at  Cairo,  were  freed  by  the  mediation 
and  valuable  presents  of  the  King  of  Spain.  Leo 
with  his  queen  and  daughter,  went  to  Jerusalem; 
there  he  left  them  at  their  own  request,  then  visited 
the  European  countries.  On  the  19th  of  November, 
a.d.  1393,  he  ended  his  mortal  career  in  Paris.  “Leo 
King  of  Armenia,  was  of  a  small  stature,  but  of  in¬ 
telligent  expression  and  well-formed  features.  His 
body  was  carried  to  the  tomb  clothed  in  royal  robes 
of  white,  according  to  the  custom  of  Armenia,  with 
an  open  crown  upon  his  head  and  a  golden  scepter 
in  his  hand.  He  lay  in  state  upon  an  open  bier  hung 
with  white  and  surrounded  by  the  officers  of  his 
household,  clothed,  all  of  them,  in  white  robes.  He 
was  buried  by  the  high  altar  of  the  Church  of  the 
Celestine.” 


VI 


THE  ARMENIAN  CHURCH 

THE  Armenian  church  claims  to  he  apostolic 
in  its  origin,  Christianity  having  been  intro¬ 
duced  into  Armenia  by  the  Apostles,  and 
having  survived  the  persecutions  of  heathenism  dur¬ 
ing  the  first  three  centuries,  had  finally,  about  the 
end  of  the  third  century,  subdued  the  entire  nation. 
As  has  been  said  before,  St.  Gregory  the  Illuminator 
was  sent  to  Caesarea,  Cappadocia,  to  he,  and  was, 
ordained  Bishop  of  Armenia,  a.d.  302. 

The  Armenian  church,  therefore  was  and  still  is, 
a  national  church;  the  prosperity  of  the  nation  also 
was  the  prosperity  of  the  church.  The  nation  had 
but  little  rest  after  her  embrace  of  Christianity. 
Christian  Armenia,  during  the  first  three  centuries 
of  her  acceptance  and  existence  as  a  Christian  state, 
however,  made  such  a  noble  defense  of  her  faith 
against  Zoroastrianism  that  the  latter  was  completely 
paralyzed,  and  no  longer  able  to  lift  up  the  sword 
against  the  followers  of  Christ.  But  with  the  rise  of 
Mohammedanism,  a  more  formidable,  cruel,  unjust, 
and  inhuman  enemy  arose.  The  Saracens  or  the 
Arabs,  who  were  both  the  soldiers  and  missionaries 
of  the  Mohammedan  faith,  literally  panted  after  the 

102 


The  Armenian  Church  103 

blood  of  the  Christians.  Even  these,  after  sucking 
all  the  blood  that  they  could  imbibe,  fell  off  like 
swollen  leeches  and  were  swallowed  up  by  the  Sel- 
jukian,  Tatar,  and  Mongolian  Turks,  who  surpassed 
even  the  Arabs  in  cruelty  and  indisputably  deserved 
to  be  called  “the  unspeakable  Turk.”  The  Greeks, 
with  all  their  subtility,  volatility,  perfidy,  intrigues, 
and  intolerable  bigotry,  could  do  no  more  than  to 
cause  some  of  their  formalism  to  creep  into  the 
Armenian  church. 

But  this  is  not  all ;  for  while  the  Armenians  were 
driven  into  the  mountainous  districts  of  Cilicia,  the 
land  of  the  brave  apostle  Paul,  by  the  Mongolian 
and  Tatar  invaders  who  spread  desolation,  destruc¬ 
tion,  and  death  wherever  their  feet  touched  the  soil, 
there  came  with  the  appearance  of  the  Crusaders 
into  the  East  a  number  of  zealous  missionaries  of  the 
Bomish  church,  who  neglected  even  to  attempt  a  quiet 
missionary  work  among  the  Mohammedans,  but  in¬ 
sidiously  first,  then  openly,  tried  to  bring  the  Ar¬ 
menian  church  into  a  subordination  and  under  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  popes  of  Borne. 

The  papal  missionaries,  under  the  order  of  the 
Unitors,  who  had  insidiously  sown  the  seeds  of  dis¬ 
sension  in  the  Armenia  church,  availed  themselves 
of  every  misfortune  that  befel  the  people,  and  later, 
being  augmented  by  the  Jesuits  and  their  intrigues, 
until  about  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
they  converted  this  dissension  into  a  volcanic  erup¬ 
tion.  Consequently  thousands  of  the  Armenians 
avowed  their  spiritual  allegiance  to  the  pope  of  Borne. 


104  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

The  following  is  from  a  French  writer: 

“ Fortunately  for  the  Catholics,  they  found  a  power¬ 
ful  protector  in  DeFeriol,  the  French  ambassador,  who 
obtained  an  order  from  the  Porte,  in  1703,  for  the  de¬ 
position  and  banishment  of  the  (Armenian)  patriarch 
Avedik.  Exiled  to  Chios,  he  was  clandestinely  carried 
off  during  the  passage  and  conducted,  some  say  to  Mes¬ 
sina,  others  to  Marseilles,  and  thence  to  the  Island  of 
St.  Marguerite,  where  he  died  of  martyrdom.  There  were 
strong  grounds  for  suspecting  the  Jesuits  established 
in  Chios  and  Galata  of  having  contrived  this  plot  in 
concert  with  the  French  ambassador.”  1 

The  Mohammedan  rulers  always  dealt  with  their 
Christian  subjects  with  the  utmost  contempt,  un¬ 
modified  injustice,  and  with  relentless  cruelty  and 
persecution.  Many  of  the  people  did  undoubtedly 
delude  themselves  with  the  idea  that  by  uniting  with 
the  Romish  church  they  would  secure  protection  from 
the  Turkish  cruelty  and  oppression,  through  the  in¬ 
fluence  of  Romish  France,  which  was  then  more  in¬ 
fluential  in  the  East.  For  it  is  quite  improbable 
that  they  could  believe  that  the  Roman  church  was 
any  better  in  simplicity  and  purity  than  the  Arme¬ 
nian  church. 

Returning  to  the  history  of  the  Armenian  church 
from  the  schism  in  the  church,  it  may  be  well  to 
state  that  for  over  half  a  century  (302-363)  it  was 
the  custom  of  the  Armenian  bishops  to  be  ordained 
at  Caesarea,  Cappadocia,  but  during  the  patriarchate 
of  Nerses  the  Great,  the  clergy  and  laity  unanimously 
agreed  to  have  their  bishops  ordained  in  Armenia 

*  Ubicini,  "Letters  on  Turkey,”  Vol.  II,  pp.  256-7. 


The  Armenian  Church 


105 


by  the  Armedian  bishops.  It  is  therefore  evident 
from  this  fact  that  there  was  no  higher  rank  or 
order  than  that  of  a  bishop  or  presbyter,  which  names 
are  interchangeably  used  in  the  Hew  Testament  as 
Vartabed  (doctor)  M.  Muradian,  of  St.  James’  Mon¬ 
astery  at  Jerusalem,  correctly  states  in  his  “History 
of  the  Apostolic  Church  of  Armenia.”1  It  may  also 
be  interesting  to  add  as  a  fact  of  history  that  in  the 
time  of  St.  Gregory  and  his  successors  for  several 
centuries,  the  bishops  were  married  and  heads  of 
families.  Celibacy  was  not  required  of  them,  neither 
separation,  but  it  was  optional  with  them  to  choose 
either  or  none. 

“The  election  of  the  bishops,  like  that  of  all  the 
Armenian  clergy,  takes  place  by  universal  suffrage,” 
the  ordinations  take  place  generally  at  either  Etch- 
miadzin,  Akhtamar,  or  Sis,  by  the  presiding  bishop 
and  his  associates.  The  priests  or  presbyters  (Ye- 
retzk)  are  chosen  by  the  people  among  themselves. 
They  are  expected  to  have  tolerable  knowledge  of  the 
Bible  and  the  liturgy  of  the  church  (some  in  former 
years  knew  very  little  of  either)  and  are  ordained 
by  the  bishops.  The  priests  live  with  their  families 
among  the  people  and  attend  their  daily  duties  in  the 
church  services  morning  and  evening;  they  perform 
baptism  for  the  infants,  and  marry  and  bury  the 
young  and  old  as  the  occasion  may  require. 

“The  Armenian  clergy  receive  no  stipends,  and  exact 
no  contributions  like  those  of  the  Greek  church;  their 

1  Muradian,  “The  History  of  the  Apostolic  Church  of  Armenia,”  p. 
35.  (This  work  is  in  the  Armenian  language.) 


106  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

revenues  depend  entirely  on  the  voluntary  contributions 
of  the  faithful;  it  is  therefore  rare  to  meet  with  a 
wealthy  priest,  though  some  few  were  in  easy  circum¬ 
stances.  With  respect  to  morals,  also,  though  it  is 
difficult  to  pronounce  absolutely  on  the  subject,  the  Ar¬ 
menian  clergy  appear  to  be  very  superior  to  the 
Greeks.”  1  The  deacons  are  elected  and  ordained  like 
the  priest,  and  have  no  income  whatever ;  they  serve 
the  church  and  assist  the  priests  in  the  daily  ministra¬ 
tions  and  attend  to  their  business,  whatever  it  may  be. 

There  is  another  class  of  the  clergy  of  the  Arme* 
nian  church  called  Vartabeds ,  or  doctors  in  theology  . 
It  is  very  probable  that  the  very  necessity  of  the 
case  created  this  order.  In  former  years,  after  the 
conversion  of  the  Armenians  to  Christianity,  most 
of  the  literary  men  were  of  the  clergy,  and  the  mon¬ 
asteries  became  the  seats  of  learning.  Those  who 
loved  a  literary  life  would  retire  to  those  places  and 
pursue  such  a  course.  Asceticism  of  the  East  als<r 
must  have  played  a  good  part  in  it.  Those  who  were 
ordained  evangelists  to  visit  the  churches  and  to 
preach  the  gospel  to  the  people,  who  were  so  often 
persecuted  and  oppressed  by  their  enemies,  at  first, 
most  likely  voluntarily  preferred  celibacy  in  order  to 
devote  their  whole  time  to  the  work  of  the  church, 
Eut  what  was  with  them  optional  has  become  now  a 
condition  for  that  order,  though  athe  Vartabeds  form 
the  most  enlightened  and  learned  portion  of  the  Ar¬ 
menian  clergy,”  from  whom  the  bishops  are  elected 
and  ordained,  are  unfortunately  Restricted  to 
celibacy.” 


*  Ubicini,  "letter  on  Turkey,”  Vol.  II,  pp.  285-6. 


The  Armenian  Church  107 

“The  monks  or  celibate  priests  are,  I  believe,  always 
connected  with  convents,  they  are  knovn  under  the 
style  of  Vardabets  or  doctors,  this  title  being  attached 
to  their  individual  names.  They  are  governed  accord¬ 
ing  to  the  rule  of  St.  Basil  of  Caesarea,  the  contemporary 
and  monitor  of  the  Armenian  pontiff,  Nerses  the  Great 
(a.d.  340-374).  They  do  not  practice  the  tonsure,  and 
they  wear  their  beards.  They  are  attired  in  long  black 
robes  with  conical  cowls.  ...  At  present  there  are  in 
all  not  more  than  some  fifty  Yardabets  within  the  wide 
limits  of  the  Russian  province  (of  Armenia).  Of  these 
about  half  reside  at  Edgmiatsin.  .  .  .  All  monks  in 
Russian  territory  are  ordained  at  Edgmiatsin,  and  it 
is  the  custom  for  all  bishops,  whether  in  Russian  Arme¬ 
nia,  or  abroad,  to  be  consecrated  in  the  Church  of  the 
Illuminator .” 1 

The  Armenian  church  differs  from  that  of  Rome 
on  the  following  points :  ( 1 )  It  denies  the  supremacy 
of  the  Bishop  of  Rome.  (2)  It  has  not  accepted  the 
decisions  of  the  Council  of  Chalcedon  as  ecumenic. 
(3)  It  rejects  the  introduction  of  filioque  into  the 
creed,  but  admits  that  the  Holy  Spirit  proceeds  from 
the  Father.  (4)  It  rejects  the  Rcmish  doctrine  of 
purgatory.  (5)  It  rejects  indulgences.  (6)  It  has 
no  equivalent  word  for  Transubstantiation.  (7)  It 
does  not  withhold  the  Bible  from  the  people,  but  en¬ 
courages  them  to  read  it. 

In  the  very  year  while  the  Armenians  were  alone 
fighting  with  the  Persians  in  defense  of  Christianity, 
and  the  verdant  fields  of  Ararat  were  dyed  with  the 
blood  of  the  martyrs,  the  Greek  and  Latin  theologians 
were  holding  their  council  at  Chalcedon,  engaging  the 

1  Lynch,  “Armenia,"  Vol.  I,  p.  275. 


108  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

influence  of  the  Emperor  to  condemn  Eutychus.  He 
had  gone  to  the  other  extremity  of  the  question 
with  regard  to  the  person  of  Christ,  for  which  Res- 
torius  had  been  condemned  in  the  previous  council 
(at  Ephesus  a.d.  431).  The  latter  was  supposed  to 
teach  two  personalities  in  Christ,  on  account  of  his 
emphasizing  the  distinctive  characteristics  of  Christ’s 
divine  and  human  nature.  Eutychus  was  condemned 
because  he  made  the  divine  nature  of  Christ  to  absorb 
his  human  nature,  he,  therefore,  was  called  a  mono- 
physite. 

The  Armenians  did  not  accept  the  decision  of  the 
Chalcedonian  council,  not  because  they  were  in  sym¬ 
pathy  with  Eutychus’  doctrine,  but  because  the  ques¬ 
tion  did  not  concern  them.  Moreover  some  other 
questions  decided  in  that  council  were  objectionable. 
“E rom  the  council  of  Chalcedon  to  the  death  of  Boni¬ 
face  II,  bishop  of  Rome,  was  a  period  of  rivalry  for 
sole  dominion  in  the  church  between  the  patriarchs 
of  Rome  and  Constantinople.  By  the  council  they 
had  been  recognized  as  entitled  to  higher  honors  than 
the  rest.  From  that  date  it  became  an  object  of 
ambition  with  both  to  secure,  each  for  his  own  self, 
the  admitted  title  of  sole  superiority.”  1  Such  being 
the  case  the  decision  of  the  council  of  Chalcedon  is 
like  the  Mohammedan  creed,  part  truth  and  part  lie. 
The  Armenians  had  already  accepted  the  truth.  They 
were  satisfied  with  the  orthodoxy  delivered  to  them 
by  the  teachings  of  the  Apostles  and  the  three  former 
councils,  held  at  Rice  a.d.  325;  at  Constantinople  a.d. 

1  Moffat,  "Church  History  in  Brief,”  p.  142. 


The  Armenian  Church  109 

381;  and  at  Ephesus,  a.d.  431.  The  pity  of  it  all 
is  that  the  Greek  and  Latin  writers  represented  and 
condemned  the  Armenians  as  Monophysites  and  the 
Armenian  church  was  cut  off  from  the  Western 
(Latin)  and  the  Eastern  (Greek)  Churches. 

The  following  is  from  the  long  defense  and  con¬ 
fession  of  the  Synod  of  the  Armenian  bishops  who 
answered  the  Persian  grand  vizier,  Mihrenerseh,  in 
a.d.  450,  a  year  before  the  Council  of  Chalcedon: 
“He  (Christ)  was  in  reality  God  and  in  reality  man. 
The  Godhead  was  not  withdrawn  through  the  human 
nature,  nor  was  the  human  nature  destroyed  by  his 
remaining  God ;  but  he  is  both  one  and  the  same.” 

Another  writer  says:  “It  is  now  evident  that  the 
Armenian  church,  of  St.  Gregory,  wholly  rejects  the 
heresy  of  Eutychus,  condemned  by  the  council  of 
Chalcedon;  and  she  does  so  as  much  as  the  Eastern 
(Greek)  church.”  1  Though  this  charge  of  heresy 
brought  against  the  Armenian  church  by  the  Greek 
and  Latin  churches  was  absolutely  unfounded,  yet  it 
was  a  fertile  source  of  much  trouble,  oppression,  per¬ 
secution,  and  bloodshed,  and  almost  the  sole  occasion 
of  the  overthrow  of  the  last  two  Armenian  dynasties. 

The  influence  of  the  Greeks  in  the  Grecian  prov¬ 
inces  of  Armenia  often  outweighed  in  appointing  a 
bishop  over  the  Armenians,  who  would  he  favorably 
inclined  to  the  acceptance  of  the  decision  of  the  Chal- 
cedonian  council  and  some  other  rites  of  the  Greek 
Church.  Such  appointments  often  took  place  and 
furnished  new  sources  of  dissensions  and  con- 


1  Malon,  "The  Life  and  Times  of  St.  Gregory,”  p,  31.  London. 


110  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

tentions  among  the  clergy  and  laity.  The  Greeks, 
taking  advantage  of  such  internal  contentions,  did 
their  best  to  unite  the  Armenian  church  with 
the  Greek  church,  but  they  invariably  failed. 
“The  more  attractive  the  offer  of  the  Greeks, 
the  greater  grew  the  hatred  of  them;  nor  have  the 
popes  met  with  better  success.  When  we  reflect  that 
this  obstinate  people  are  as  intelligent  as  any  in  the 
world  in  various  pursuits  of  civilized  life,  our  anger 
at  such  conduct,  which  gave  away  the  cause  of  civili¬ 
zation,  may  he  tempered  by  a  different  feeling.  The 
Armenians  have  fought  at  all  hazards  to  preserve 
their  individuality,  and  the  hulk  of  the  nation  have 
perished  in  the  attempt.  The  remnant  may  be  des¬ 
tined,  like  the  son  of  Anak,  to  redress  the  wrongs 
inflicted  by  their  ancestors  upon  the  common  Chris¬ 
tian  weal.”  1 

The  Armenians  have  fought  at  all  hazards  not 
only  to  preserve  their  individuality,  but  especially 
to  preserve  their  church  from  an  ecclesiastical  vassal- 
age.  They  fought  for  principle,  not  for  policy.  Their 
descendants  seem  to  have  inherited  the  same  spirit. 
On  account  of  their  adherence  to  principles  of  right 
and  justice,  they  are  brought  to  the  very  verge  of 
national  annihilation.  It  is  not  tho  Armenians  of 
the  past  or  the  present  that  have  inflicted  wrongs 
upon  the  common  Christian  weal,  hut  on  the  con¬ 
trary,  the  so-called  Christian  nations  of  the  past  and 
the  present  are  responsible  for  the  wrongs  that  have 
been  inflicted  upon  the  defenseless  Armenians. 

1  Lynch,  “Armenia,”  Vol.  I,  p.  314. 


The  Armenian  Church  111 

It  is  the  shallow  and  narrow-minded  student  of 
history  and  Christianity,  who,  seeing  the  great  Chris¬ 
tian  nations  at  war  says:  Christianity  has  failed  as 
a  religion,  or  as  a  civilizing  force.  It  is  not  the 
fault  of  Christianity,  it  is  the  lack  of  it.  As  it  is 
now,  so  it  was  in  the  past.  Had  the  Greeks  the 
true  spirit  of  Christianity,  or  even  had  they  some 
far-sighted  statesmen,  they  would  have  encouraged 
and  strengthened  the  Armenians  on  the  east,  in¬ 
stead  of  weakening  and  hastening  the  overthrow  of 
the  Armenian  independence.  They  could  have  made 
them  like  a  strong  stone  wall  against  the  Mongolian 
hordes,  who  not  only  swept  over  Armenia,  hut  within 
a  short  time  swept  and  reduced  the  Eastern  empire. 
The  City  of  Constantine  the  Great  became  for  cen¬ 
turies  the  seat  of  the  assassins. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  seventh  century  the 
Greeks  invaded  Armenia,  devastated  twenty-five  prov¬ 
inces  and  carried  away  eight  thousand  families  into 
captivity.  Not  very  long  after  this  event  the  Sara¬ 
cens  invaded  the  country  again  and  secured  the  en¬ 
tire  subjugation  of  the  people.  The  news  of  this 
event  enraged  the  Greek  emperor  Justinius  II  again, 
who  with  an  immense  army  attacked  the  Armenians 
and  captured  the  prelate  Isaac  and  five  other  bishops. 
After  receiving  a  sufficient  number  of  hostages,  he 
left  the  prelates  alone  and  returned  to  Constanti¬ 
nople. 

It  was  only  a  few  weeks  after  this  that  the  Sara¬ 
cens,  under  the  leadership  of  Abdullah,  returned  to 
Armenia  and  fell  upon  the  people  and  plundered 


112  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

the  churches  and  monasteries,  and  desecrated  the 
sacred  edifices  and  the  unfortunate  prelate  Isaac  was 
carried  to  Damascus  in  chains,  where  he  ended  his 
eventful  life  of  martyrdom  while  a  prisoner.  Isaac 
was  succeeded  by  Elias,  the  archbishop  of  Armenia, 
and  Gashim  was  appointed  by  the  Caliph  governor 
of  the  country.  Gashim  was  by  no  means  inferior 
in  cruelty  to  the  previous  Arab  generals.  In  fact, 
all  the  followers  of  Mohammed,  from  the  beginning 
well  learned  the  behest  of  their  lord,  “To  do  aught 
good  never  will  be  your  task,  but  to  do  evil  ever 
your  sole  delight.”  Gashim  gathered  all  the  leading 
men  into  the  church  of  Nachichavan,  on  pretense  of 
making  a  treaty  of  peace  with  them ;  he  then  set  the 
church  on  fire  and  burned  them  alive. 

The  orthodoxy  of  the  Armenian  church  would  not 
have  been  questioned  by  some  of  the  Western  writers 
had  they  not  drawn  their  information  from  the  Greek 
and  Latin  sources  only.  This  could  not  have  been 
avoided  in  the  early  years  of  the  middle  ages  on 
account  of  the  scarcity  of  the  Armenian  scholars 
among  the  Western  nations.  Even  now  the  Arme¬ 
nian  language  is  studied  by  very  few.  Yet  a  careful 
and  happy  writer,,  like  the  following,  is  apt  to  avoid 
mistakes:  “In  points  of  doctrine  and  ritual  the  Ar¬ 
menian  church  is  extremely  conservative,  and  has 
been  wise  or  fortunate  enough  to  avoid  defining  her 
faith  with  the  particularity  which  had  produced  so 
many  schisms  farther  west.  Her  formulas  do  not 
commit  her  to  Monophysite  views,  although,  chiefly 
owing  to  a  national  jealousy  of  Constantinople,  she 


The  Armenian  Church  113 

has  refused  to  accept  the  decrees  of  Chalcedon.  .  .  . 
She  has  avoided  the  use  of  any  word  corresponding 
to  the  term  Transubstantiation.  .  .  1 

The  following,  from  “the  History  of  the  Holy 
Apostolic  Church  of  Armenia,”  by  Vartabed  M. 
Muradian,  of  St.  James’  Monastery,  at  Jerusalem, 
niay  show  the  orthodoxy  of  the  Armenian  Church : 

"It  is  sweet  and  comforting  to  discourse  on  the  re¬ 
vealed  truths  of  the  Bible  which  is  the  only  foundation 
of  undefiled  doctrine,  to  which  always  have  the  holy 
church-fathers  trusted  for  the  defense  of  faith. 

"The  Bible  teaches  concerning  God  two  things:  first 
that  God  is  one  and  there  is  no  other  God  beside  Him ; 
second,  that  divine  nature  is  common  to  the  Father, 
to  the  Son,  and  to  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  these  three 
persons  have  one  Godhead.  This  is  the  faith  of  the 
Christians  in  harmony  with  the  manifest  words  of  the 
Bible.  This  Trinity  is  the  foundation  of  the  Christian 
faith,  and  the  three  persons  have  one  influence  for 
our  salvation,  but  in  different  ways  of  manifesting  it; 
that  is,  the  Father  calls  and  causes  us  to  approach  His 
Son,  whom  He  begat  from  eternity  and  prepared  His 
coming.  The  Son  came  from  heaven  and  was  united 
with  human  nature  that  He  might  save  us  from  sin 
and  give  us  eternal  life.  The  Holy  Spirit  is  our  re¬ 
generator,  Who  re-establishes  in  us  the  likeness  of  God, 
making  us  receptive  of  the  Salvation  offered  by  God. 

“The  Bible  teaches  that  Christ,  on  account  of  His 
eternal  generation  from  the  Father,  is  called  the  Son 
of  God,  but  for  His  incarnation  in  time,  the  Son  of 
Man,  brother  of  men,  through  whom  we  obtain  the; 
right  to  call  God  our  Father,  and  for  this  reason  the 
Church  confesses  in  the  personality  of  Christ  two  na- 

1  Bryce,  “Transcaucasia  and  Ararat,”  pp.  341-2. 


114  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

tures,  the  divine  and  the  human ,  distinct  and  insepar¬ 
able  in  their  union.  This  mystery  of  incarnation  is 
the  great  mystery  of  God’s  love  for  the  world;  and  as 
much  of  this  is  incomprehensible  and  inconceivable  by 
human  intelligence,  so  much  is  it  natural  with  divine 
love  and  omnipotent  nature.  In  this  great  mystery 
was  the  salvation  of  mankind,  for  this  the  entire  hu¬ 
manity  waited,  and,  therefore,  the  law  and  the  prophets 
in  this  mystery  of  incarnation  were  fulfilled.  Because 
Christ,  as  the  true  Messiah,  performed  prophetic, 
priestly,  and  kingly  offices,  and  became  for  us  the  true 
Prophet ,  true  Priest ,  and  true  King ;  teaching  the  doc¬ 
trine  of  redemption,  elucidating  the  past,  the  present, 
and  the  future  of  mankind,  forgiving  and  redeeming 
us  through  the  sacrifice  of  Himself  and  reigning  over 
us  with  a  heavenly  and  spiritual  kingdom. 

“The  Bible  teaches  that  the  Holy  Spirit  proceeds 
and  flows  from  the  Father,  not  as  a  common  influence 
of  God,  but  as  a  person  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  infinite, 
eternal,  a  true  God.  But  with  respect  to  us  the  Holy 
Spirit  is  the  Fountain  of  God’s  union  with  man,  and 
the  seal  by  which  we  are  known  as  Christians ;  because 
without  the  Holy  Spirit’s  dwelling  in  us.  His  help  and 
guidance  we  are  alive  only  (carnally),  for  the  Holy 
Spirit  is  co-worker  with  the  Father  and  the  Son  for 
our  salvation;  and  as  the  manifestation  of  God  through 
(or  in)  Christ  to  the  world  is  called  REDEMPTION, 
so  also  the  revelation  of  God  through  the  Holy  Spirit 
is  denominated  REGENERATION  and  SANCTIFI¬ 
CATION. 

“At  this  present  day  there  is  not  a  book  like  the  Bible 
from  which  the  intellectual  world  has  been  able  to  de¬ 
rive  so  much  good  for  the  Teal  well-being  and  progress 
of  human  society.  There  is  not  a  book,  and  cannot  be, 
that  is  translated  into  so  many  languages  and  is  dis¬ 
tributed  so  extensively  as  the  Bible.  Our  immortal 
translators  felt  this  great  want  and  they  began  the 


The  Armenian  Church  115 

first  step  of  the  nation’s  enlightenment  and  progress  by 
the  translation  and  study  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and 
this  translation  is  so  choice,  that  with  various  praises 
bestowed  upon  it  by  the  European  scholars  of  the  present 
century,  who  know  the  Armenian  language,  it  is  called 
the  Queen  of  Versions .’  But  we  will  be  giving  a  still 
greater  praise  to  our  forefathers  if  we  generalize  the 
study  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  among  our  people  and 
rear  the  edifice  of  education  upon  that  solid  foundation 
of  the  Word  of  God.”  1 

By  no  means  should  the  reader  think  that  the 
writer  is  partial  in  not  telling  something  of  the  su¬ 
perstitions,  formalism,  and  ignorance  still  in  exist¬ 
ence  and  practice  among  the  Armenians  and  in  their 
church.  These  have  often  been  written  and  spoken 
of,  even  with  a  great  deal  of  lack  of  knowledge  and 
charity.  Had  those  writers  on  these  aspects  of  the 
Armenian  Church  and  people  remembered  that  for 
almost  sixteen  centuries  this  Church  has  been  in  con¬ 
stant  conflict  with  paganism,  Zoroastrianism,  Mo¬ 
hammedanism,  and  the  evil  influences  of  the  so-called 
other  Christian  Churches,  they  would  not  have  been 
so  severe  in  their  denunciations  of  that  old  relic  of 
the  ancient  Christian  Church.  Often  were  the 
bishops  and  priests  in  the  battlefield  with  their  flocks 
against  the  enemy  of  the  Church.  Often  were  they 
in  chains,  in  imprisonment,  in  hostage  at  the  pagan, 
Mohammedan  and  so-called  Christian  Courts;  often 
were  they  carried  away  into  captivity  and  massacred 
by  their  captors  because  they  would  not  denounce 

1  Muradian,  “  The  History  of  the  Apostolic  Church  of  Armenia  ”  nn 
117-121,  127-128.  * 


116  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

their  faith  in  Christ.  In  the  massacre  of  1895-6 
not  one  out  of  one  hundred  and  seventy  Armenian 
priests  and  twenty-one  Protestant  Armenian  minis¬ 
ters,  who  were  cruelly  butchered  by  a  slow  torture 
for  their  faith,  was  willing  to  exchange  his  Christian 
faith  for  his  life.  The  same  was  true  for  centuries. 
How  could  they  give  more  attention  than  they  did 
to  the  education  and  enlightenment  of  their  people 
and  to  the  purity  of  the  Church  ?  Even  to-day  the 
best  intellects  of  the  Armenian  church,  the  educators 
and  lovers  of  reform  and  the  purity  of  the  Church 
and  the  people  have  been  butchered  by  the  unspeak¬ 
able  Turks  with  the  consent  of  their  allies  or  have 
chosen  voluntary  exile.  Certainly  these  circum¬ 
stances  will  not  justify  the  condition  of  the  church, 
but  they  ought  to  modify  the  severity  of  our  judg¬ 
ment  and  fill  us  with  a  deeper  sympathy,  with  a  truer 
Christian  love  and  activity  for  its  reform,  purity, 
and  spiritual  prosperity.  (See  Chapter  XV.) 


VII 


THE  PERIOD  OF  SUBJECTION 

THE  Mameluke  Sultans  of  Egypt  were  the 
unhappy  instruments  of  harassing  and  finally 
overthrowing  the  Armenian  independence 
in  Cilicia,  but  they  did  not  enjoy  the  pleasure  of 
ruling  over  Armenia,  nor  Cilicia  and  the  Armenians. 
The  course  of  events  was  taking  a  different  shape  in 
Western  Asia. 

By  a  succession  of  influxes  of  the  Mongolian  hordes 
into  the  country,  during  the  tenth,  eleventh  and 
twelfth  centuries,  the  power  of  the  Caliphs  of  Bag¬ 
dad  was  broken  into  pieces  and  a  vast  empire  was 
formed  by  the  Seljukian  Turks.  Afrer  the  death  of 
the  third  sovereign,  Malek  Shah,  the  empire  was 
divided  into  various  principalities.  One  of  these  be¬ 
came  a  kingdom  of  considerable  importance,  lying 
on  the  frontier  of  the  Greek  empire,  having  Nice, 
afterwards  Iconium  (now  Koniah),  its  capital.  The 
same  influx  of  the  Mongolian  invaders  had  not  yet 
stopped  on  the  one  hand ;  on  the  other  hand  the 
Western  Crusaders  did  render  some  service  in  annov- 

t/ 

ing  this  kingdom,  while  the  Mameluke  Sultans  by 
no  means  were  at  peace  with  the  Seljukian  Turks. 
The  turbulent  condition  of  Western  Asia  at  this 


117 


118  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

period  (13th  century)  could  well  afford  the  growth 
of  a  new  power,  or  dynasty,  provided  this  power  was 
in  sympathy  with  the  prevalent  religion,  Moham¬ 
medanism,  and  congenial  with  the  invading  hordes. 
Unfortunately  for  the  Christians,  both  in  Western 
Asia,  and  later  in  Eastern  Europe,  we  find  a  power, 
growing  out  of  a  nomadic  tribe  into  a  formidable  em¬ 
pire,  which  held  the  Christian  world  in  terror  for 
several  centuries.  The  following  is  the  origin  of  this 
empire : 

“About  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century  a  tribe 
of  Turks,  not  of  the  stock  of  Seljuk,  driven  forward 
by  the  Mongol  invaders,  left  their  camping  grounds  in 
Khorasan  and  wandered  into  Armenia  in  search  of 
undisturbed  pasturage.  After  seven  years  of  exile, 
deeming  the  opportunity  favorable  to  return,  they  set 
out  to  their  ancient  possessions.  But  while  fording  the 
Euphrates,  the  horse  of  their  leader  fell  with  him  and 
he  perished  in  the  river.  A  spot  upon  its  banks  now 
bears  the  name  of  the  tomb  of  the  Turk.  Upon  this 
accident  occurring  the  tribe  was  divided  by  his  sons 
into  four  companies  and  Ertogrul,  the  warlike  head  of 
one  division,  resolved  to  return  to  the  westward  and 
seek  a  settlement  in  Asia  Minor.  While  pursuing  his 
course  he  spied  two  armies  in  hostile  array.  Not  will¬ 
ing  to  be  a  neutral  spectator  of  the  battle  he  joined 
himself  to  the  apparently  weaker  party  and  his  timely 
aid  decided  the  victory.  The  conquered  were  an  invad¬ 
ing  horde  of  Mongols,  the  conqueror  was  Aladdin,  the 
Seljukian  Sultan  of  Iconium,  and  Ertogrul  received 
from  the  grateful  victor  an  assignment  of  territory 
in  his  dominions  for  himself  and  his  people.  It  con¬ 
sisted  of  the  rich  plains  around  Shughut,  in  the  valley 
of  the  Sangarins  (called  the  “country  of  pasture”),  and 


The  Period  of  Subjection  119 

of  the  Black  Mountains  on  the  borders  of  Phrygia  and 
Bithynia.  The  former  district  was  for  his  winter  abode ; 
the  latter  for  his  summer  encampment.  In  this  domain 
was  nurtured  his  son  Othman,  or  Osman,  who  became 
the  founder  of  a  dynasty  and  an  empire.  From  him  the 
Turks  of  the  present  day  have  the  name  of  Ottoman, 
or  Osmanli,  which  they  universally  adopt,  rejecting  that 
of  Turk  with  disdain  as  synonymous  with  barbarian.”  1 

Othman  began  to  reign  about  a.d.  1289.  The 
shepherd,  warrior,  and  freebooter  were  united  in  his 
character.  He  was  dependent  on  the  Sultan  of 
Iconium  during  the  life  of  the  latter,  but  otherwise 
he  was  free  to  prey  upon  his  neighbors  and  govern 
his  people.  After  the  death  of  the  sultan,  who  had 
no  sons  to  succeed  him,  his  kingdom  was  divided,  and 
Othman  became,  practically,  an  independent  ruler. 
He  increased  and  extended  his  power  and  territories 
by  gradual  encroachments  upon  the  Grecian  domin¬ 
ions,  and  by  repeated  inroads  year  after  year.  He 
captured  Brousa  and  made  it  the  capital  of  his  gov¬ 
ernment.  His  son  and  successor,  Orchan,  extended 
the  bounds  of  Othman’s  territories  with  astonishing 

O 

rapidity.  He  crossed  the  Straits  of  Hellespont  and 
Bosphorus.  He  appointed  his  brother,  Aladdin, 
vizier.  Aladdin  created  the  system  of  the  standing 
army  in  the  year  1330. 

“But  the  soldiers  (taken  from  the  Turks)  proved  in¬ 
tractable  and  could  not  be  brought  to  submit  to  the 
strict  discipline  involved  in  military  organizations.  To 
obviate  this  difficulty  the  expedient  was  resorted  to  of 
rearing  up  in  the  doctrine  of  Islam  the  children  of  the 

1  Milner,  "The  Turkish  Empire,”  pp.  6-7. 


120  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

conquered  Christians  inuring  them  from  youth  to  the 
profession  of  arms  and  forming  them  into  a  separate 
corps.  This  black  invention,  as  Yon  Hammer  truly 
characterizes  it,  was  adopted  by  Aladdin  at  the  instance 
of  Kara  (black)  Chalil  Chenderli,  the  judge  of  the 
Army,  and  he  adds,  has  ‘a  diabolical  complexion,  much 
blacker  than  the  gunpowder  almost  contemporaneously 
discovered  by  Schwartz  (black)  in  Europe/  Hence 
arose  the  Janissaries,  a  name  which  the  westerns  have 
corrupted  from  the  Turkish  Jenicheri,  signifying  the 
‘new  troops/  The  Corps  continued  to  be  recruited  from 
the  children  of  the  captives  taken  in  war,  or  from  those 
Christian  subjects,  an  inhuman  tax  of  every  fifth 
child  or  one  child  every  fifth  year,  being  rigorously 
levied  upon  the  families.  The  number  of  the  Janis¬ 
saries,  originally  one  thousand,  was  successively  raised 
to  twelve,  to  twenty,  and  to  forty  thousand,  immedi¬ 
ately  connected  with  the  Court,  besides  a  much  larger 
number  scattered  through  the  provinces.  Hence  it  has 
been  estimated  that  not  less  than  half  a  million  Chris¬ 
tian  children  were  cruelly  torn  from  their  parents,  com¬ 
pelled  to  embrace  Islamism,  and  trained  to  maintain 
it  with  the  sword.  At  length,  in  the  reign  of  Moham¬ 
med  IY  (a.d.  1648-1687)  began  the  custom  of  admit¬ 
ting  into  the  regiment  the  children  of  the  soldiers  them¬ 
selves  ;  and  after  this  innovation,  the  J anissaries  became 
a  kind  of  military  caste,  transmitting  from  father  to 
son  the  profession  of  arms. 

“In  the  days  of  their  pristine  vigor,  the  new  troops 
were  distinguished  by  their  fanaticism  and  valor. 
Through  upwards  of  three  centuries,  marked  by  a  long 
series  of  great  battles,  they  sustained  only  four  single 
reverses,  chiefly  from  Tamerlane  in  1402,  and  John 
Humades,  the  Hungarian  general,  in  1442.  During 
that  period  they  extended  the  petty  kingdom  of  Brousa 
over  the  vast  dominions  of  Constantine  the  Great,  and 
made  known  their  prowess  from  the  walls  of  Bagdad 


m 


The  Period  of  Subjection 

to  the  gate  of  Vienna,  and  from  the  Caspian  Sea  to  the 
Nile,  while  their  name  was  the  common  terror  of 
Christendom.” 1 

The  reason  of  our  apparent  deviation  by  giving 
at  this  time  an  account  of  the  origin  and  growth  of 
the  Turkish  empire,  will  be  readily  seen  in  the  suc¬ 
ceeding  pages;  for  it  was  with  the  Turks  that  the 
Armenians  have  mostly  had  to  do  during  the  last 
five  hundred  years.  Moreover,  we  would  call  atten¬ 
tion  to  the  fact  that  the  brilliant  conquests  have  not 
been  accomplished  by  the  Tatar  Turks,  but  by  the 
Christian  youths,  who  from  their  early  childhood 
were  cruelly  torn  away  from  their  parents  and  pater¬ 
nal  Christian  religion  and  compelled  to  embrace  Is- 
lamism,  and  inured  to  the  profession  of  arms  to 
maintain  with  the  sword  the  religion  of  Mohammed. 

A  considerable  number  of  Armenians  driven  from 
the  face  of  the  Mongolian  invaders,  had  chosen  for 
themselves  the  life  of  voluntary  exiles  in  the  Grecian 
provinces,  and  towards  the  end  of  the  fourteenth  cen¬ 
tury  after  the  overthrow  of  their  Cilician  indepen¬ 
dence,  the  Turkish  empire  then  being  nearly  a  cen¬ 
tury  old,  many  Armenians  became  a  ready  prey  to 
the  fanaticism  of  the  Turks. 

It  has  been  estimated  that  not  less  than  500,000 
Christian  children  were  thus  cruelly  torn  from 
their  parents,  compelled  to  embrace  Islamism,  and 
trained  to  maintain  it  with  the  sword.  How  many 
thousands  of  families  were  compelled  to  ex¬ 
change  their  religion,  the  religion  of  love  and  chas- 

»  Milner,  “The  Turkish  Empire,”  pp.  18-20. 


122  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

tity,  for  the  religion  of  Mohammed,  the  religion  of 
sensualism  and  tyranny;  how  many  thousands  were 
massacred  because  they  would  not  obey  such  an  in¬ 
fernal  behest,  it  is  impossible  to  tell.  Suffice  it  to 
say  that  these  questions  are  not  imaginary  possibil¬ 
ities,  but  attested  facts  of  history  which  make  up  the 
darkest  pages  of  the  Ottoman  chronicles.  Indeed  we 
would  be  unwilling  to  believe  them  if  we  had  not 
seen  and  heard  even  worse  things  in  the  early  part 
of  the  twentieth  century. 

While  the  expatriated  Armenians  were  cruelly 
treated  by  the  Turks,  who  were  growing  in  power 
and  increasing  in  numbers  at  the  expense  of  the 
Christians  in  western  and  central  Asia  Minor,  those 
still  in  Armenia  proper  received  one  of  the  severest 
calamities  ever  inflicted  upon  humanity.  The  exe¬ 
cutor  of  this  terrible  infliction  was  the  famous  Mon¬ 
golian  savage  and  warrior,  Lenk  Temur,  commonly 
called  Tamerlane  (Temur  the  lame).  He  made  him¬ 
self  the  master  of  an  empire  extending  from  the 
great  wall  of  China  to  Moscow  and  to  the  Mediter¬ 
ranean,  having  Samarcand  his  capital.  He  marched 
with  an  immense  army  against  the  Persians  and  in 
a  short  time  subdued  them.  He  subjugated  Bagdad, 
plundered  Aleppo  (Hallep),  burned  down  the  greater 
part  of  Damascus  and  wrested  Syria  from  the  Mame¬ 
luke  Sultan.  From  the  city  of  Van  to  the  city  of 
Sebastia  (Sivas),  from  one  end  to  the  other  of  Ar¬ 
menia,  no  city,  town  or  village  of  any  size  escaped 
the  notice  of  the  rapacious  potentate;  he  reduced 
them  all  to  ruinous  heaps  and  ashes.  The  foreign 


123 


The  Period  of  Subjection 

rulers  of  the  different  parts  of  Armenia  had  no  power 
whatever,  to  withstand  the  terrible  army  of  Temur, 
which  covered  the  land  like  an  army  of  locusts.  A 
Kurd,  chief  by  the  name  of  Kara  (black)  Yusuf, 
who  was  assuming  control  over  the  Sasoun  district 
and  southern  part  of  Armenia,  fled  from  the  face  of 
Temur  into  the  mountain  fastnesses,  where  with  some 
of  his  subjects  he  wandered  until  the  calamity  was 
past.  The  city  of  Van,  after  a  feeble  resistance  sur¬ 
rendered;  the  youths  were  carried  as  captives,  the 
rest  were  massacred  in  various  forms.  The  inhabi¬ 
tants  of  Sivas  surrendered  on  his  solemn  promise 
that  “no  soldier  of  his  will  lift  up  the  sword  on 
them.”  He  was  true  to  the  letter,  but  not  to  the 
spirit  of  his  promise.  Pour  thousand  soldiers  were 
roasted  to  death,  and  as  many  were  buried  alive,  and 
thousands  of  the  very  young  and  old  whose  hands 
and  feet  were  tied,  were  thrown  together  and  tram¬ 
pled  under  the  hoofs  of  the  horses.  The  spot  upon 
which  this  barbarous  mode  of  massacre  took  place, 
to  this  day,  bears  the  name  of  Sev  Hokher,  signify¬ 
ing  in  the  Armenian  language  the  “Black  Plains.” 
He  then  marched  to  meet  the  Ottoman  ruler  Baja- 
zet  I.  Bajazet  may  deserve  a  word  or  two  before 
we  hand  him  over  to  the  tender  mercies  of  Temur — 
his  three  predecessors  had  borne  the  title  of  emir , 
commander,  but  Bajazet  changed  it  for  that  of  Sul¬ 
tan.  He  was  the  first  also  to  set  the  example  of 
fratricide  in  the  royal  family,  for  he  caused  his  only 
brother  to  be  put  to  death.  The  Mohammedan  his¬ 
torian  trying  to  justify  him,  says,  “remembering  the 


124  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

text  of  the  Koran,  that  disturbance  is  worse  than 
execution.”  Sigismund  of  Hungary,  with  his  allies, 
“a  body  of  French  and  German  knightly  auxiliaries, 
endeavored  to  cope  with  the  fiery  Turk,  but  was  de¬ 
feated  with  terrible  loss  in  the  battle  of  Nicopolis 
in  1396.” 

Bajazet,  fierce  and  proud,  warlike  and  bloodthirsty 
(in  the  above  battle  ten  thousand  prisoners  were  put 
to  death  by  his  order),  acquired  the  name  of  Ylde- 
rum,  ‘lightning/  on  account  of  his  energy  and  quick¬ 
ness  of  action.  “Elated  by  his  successes,  he  contem¬ 
plated  a  campaign  into  the  heart  of  Europe,  and 
boasted  that  he  would  one  day  feed  his  horse  at  Rome 
with  a  bushel  of  oats  on  the  altar  of  St.  Peter’s.”  1 
He  who  has  the  destinies  of  men  in  His  hand,  had 
differently  mapped  the  career  of  Bajazet,  the  Ylde- 
rum.  The  lame  Temur  with  his  immense  armv 

_  t/ 

moved  westward,  and  Bajazet  eastward  to  meet  the 
Tatar  warrior.  The  latter  fully  confident  of  a  vic¬ 
tory  courted  an  encounter  with  the  former.  Their 
armies  met  one  another  on  the  plains  of  Angora. 
Fierce  must  have  been  the  conflict.  There  is  always 
some  reason,  or  excuse  for  a  defeat.  It  is  said  that 
Bajazet  was  ill  at  the  time  and  though  he  was  riding 
on  one  of  the  fleetest  horses  in  the  field,  he  could 
not  effect  his  escape.  He  was  captured  and  his  army 
scattered  in  1402.  It  is  supposed  that  he  died  in 
the  following  year  from  natural  causes,  “aggravated 
by  his  inability  to  brook  a  reverse  of  fortune  so  signal 
and  complete.” 


1  Milner,  “Turkish  Empire,”  p.  33. 


125 


The  Period  of  Subjection 

Tor  a  few  years  Temur,  the  lame,  was  the  lord  of 
Asia  and  the  master  of  the  original  seat  of  the  Otto¬ 
man.  He  returned  with  an  immense  number  of 
captives  and  the  plunder  to  the  ancient  city  of  the 
caliphs;  there  in  Samarcand,  he  was  preparing  for 
another  campaign  into  China,  when  he  was  removed 
to  the  presence  of  the  eternal  Judge,  the  King  whose 
laws  he  had  violated  and  whose  creatures  he  had  de¬ 
stroyed.  He  died  in  1405,  in  his  capital  Samar¬ 
cand,  and  his  vast  empire  quickly  crumbled  into 
small  fragments. 

The  magnificent  city  of  Constantinople,  after  being 
the  metropolis  of  a  Christian  nation  over  eleven  cen¬ 
turies,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  barbarian  Turks 
(1453).  In  vain,  and  too  late,  did  the  Greeks  realize 
their  critical  condition,  and  struggle  against  the  angel 
of  death.  The  capture  of  Constantinople  by  the 
Turks  filled  the  European  nations  with  consterna¬ 
tion.  The  following  is  a  portion  of  the  letter  of 
Pius  II,  the  Pope  who  tried  to  raise  a  crusade  against 
the  Turks: 

“The  strait  of  Cadiz  has  been  passed,  and  the  poison 
of  Mohammed  penetrates  even  into  Spain.  ...  In 
other  directions,  where  Europe  extends  eastward,  the 
Christian  religion  has  been  swept  away  from  all  the 
shores.  The  barbarian  Turks,  a  people  hated  by  God 
and  man,  issuing  from  the  east  of  Scythia,  have  occu¬ 
pied  Cappadocia,  Pontus,  Bithynia,  Troas,  Pisidia, 
Cilicia  and  all  Asia  Minor.  Not  yet  content,  counting 
on  the  weakness  and  dissensions  of  the  Greeks,  they 
have  passed  the  Hellespont  and  got  possession  of  nearly 
all  the  Grecian  cities  of  Attica  .  .  .  Achaia,  Mace¬ 
donia,  and  Trace. 


126  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

“Still,  the  royal  city  of  Constantinople  did  remain 
the  pillar  and  head  of  all  the  East,  the  seat  of  patriarch 
and  emperor,  the  sole  dwelling  place  of  Grecian  wisdom. 

.  .  .  This  too,  in  our  own  day  while  the  Latins, 

divided  among  themselves,  forsook  the  Greeks,  has  that 
cruel  nation  of  Turks  invaded  and  spoiled,  triumphing 
over  the  city  that  once  gave  laws  to  all  the  East. 

“Nor  is  their  savage  appetite  yet  satiated.  The  lord 
of  the  unrighteous  people,  who  is  rather  to  be  called 
a  dark  brute  than  a  king,  a  venomous  dragon  than 
emperor,  he,  athirst  for  human  blood,  brings  down  huge 
forces  upon  Hungary.  Here  he  harasses  the  Epirates 
and  here  the  Albanians;  and  swelling  in  his  own  pride, 
boasts  that  he  will  abolish  the  lowly  gospel  and  all  the 
law  of  Christ,  and  threatens  Christians  everywhere  with 
chains,  stripes,  death,  and  horrid  torments.  .  .  .  ” 

Even  the  great  reformer,  the  immortal  Luther, 
“composed  a  once  popular  prayer,  suited  to  the  times, 
to  be  sung  as  a  hymn  in  the  churches;  and  Robert 
Wisdome,  afterwards  Archdeacon  of  Ely,  appended 
a  translation  of  it  to  the  metrical  version  of  the 
Psalms,  by  Steinhold  and  Hopkins.  It  commenced 
with  the  lines : 

1  Preserve  us,  Lord,  by  thy  dear  word, 

From  pope  and  Turk,  defend  us  Lord.’ >n 

After  the  death  of  Temur,  all  the  rulers  whom  he 
had  subdued,  began  to  rise  and  recover  their  respec¬ 
tive  reigns.  Kara  Yusuf  returned  to  Sasoun  and  re¬ 
sumed  his  rule  over  southern  Armenia.  Temur’s 
son  Sharukh  was  reigning  in  Persia  and  over  the 
eastern  portion  of  Armenia.  Iskander  (Alexander) 


1  Happily,  Luther  did  not  live  in  the  days  of  William  II  of  Germany. 


The  Period  of  Subjection  127 

the  son  and  successor  of  Yusuf  and  Sharukh  had  a 
long  contest  over  the  southern  and  eastern  part  of 
Armenia  (1421-1437).  Sharukh  finally  subdued 
Iskander— who  was  also  called  Shahi  Armen,  Shah 
of  Armenians  and  set  his  brother  Jihan  Shal  as 
a  ruler,  whose  seat  was  in  Tabriz,  in  the  province 
of  Azerbijan,  his  reign  extended  over  eastern  and 
southern  Armenia.  Meanwhile  in  Mesopotamia,  a 
Tatar  prince,  a  Turcoman,  by  the  name  of  Jehankir, 
was  rapidly  growing  in  power.  His  son,  Uzun  (long) 
Hasan,  succeeded  the  father,  and  after  the  death  of 
Jinan  Shah  he  seized  the  throne  of  Persia  and  also 
reigned  over  the  entire  Armenia  (1468). 

In  my  endeavor  to  be  brief,  I  have  crowded  the 
history  of  almost  a  century  into  less  than  a  page, 
but  these  continuous  wars,  between  the  rival  princes 
and  rulers,  have  decimated  and  destroyed  a  large 
portion  of  the  population  of  Armenia,  the  Armenians. 
And  when  the  combatants  were  exhausted  and  ceased 
for  a  time,  then  the  inevitable  sequel  or  wars,  famine, 
had  to  take  its  fearful  toll  of  human  life. 

It  is  a  miracle  that  any  Armenians  at  all  have 
been  left  to  the  present  time.  But  it  seems  to  me, 
that  God  purposely  preserved  some  of  them  even  to 
the  beginning  of  the  twentieth  century  to  prove  two 
things,  namely,  that  the  boasted  Christian  civiliza¬ 
tion  of  Europe  is  a  Christless  civilization,  that  Mo¬ 
hammedanism,  after  thirteen  centuries  of  opportunity 
and  trial  has  proved  itself  not  a  whit  better  than  the 
barbarism  of  the  past,  and  even  worse  in  many 
respects. 


128  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

Some  new  warriors  were  preparing  themselves  to 
enter  into  the  arena.  Shah  Ismail  established  and 
founded  the  Suffavean  dynasty  of  Persia  (1499). 
The  Suffaveans  claimed  that  Ali,  the  fourth  Caliph, 
would  have  been  the  successor  of  Mohammed  and  the 
head  of  Islamism  had  not  Abuheker,  Omar,  and 
Osman,  usurped  his  right.  They,  moreover,  claimed 
lineage  from  Ali,  and  thus  to  be  the  lawful  successor 
of  Mohammed.  The  Osmali  sultans  repudiated  this 
right  and  descent.  Though  both  the  Persians  and 
Turks  venerate  the  false  prophet,  yet  they  divide 
the  Mohammedans  into  two  sects.  The  Turks  are 
sunees ,  or  sonees ,  orthodox,  and  they  call  the  Per¬ 
sians  Sheahs  or  heterodox.  This  difference  and  the 
national  jealousies  between  the  Turks  and  Persians 
furnished  these  two  Islam  nations  with  an  occasion 
for  constant  war  and  bloodshed  which  lasted  over  two 
centuries.  Put  alas !  the  noble  land  of  Ararat  had 
to  furnish  them  the  battle-field,  and  the  unfortunate 
“House  of  Torgarmah”  to  suffer  the  doleful  conse¬ 
quence  of  their  bloody  conflicts. 

Sultan  Selim  I,  who  merited  the  title  of  “the 
cruel,”  is  believed  to  have  caused  the  death  of  his 
father,  Bajazet  II.  He  had  forced  him  to  abdicate, 
and  while  on  his  way  to  Adrianopole  as  an  exile,  he 
was  murdered.  Selim  was  fiercely  intolerant  in  re¬ 
ligion.  Naturally,  all  the  fanatics  loved  him.  Turn¬ 
ing  his  army  of  140,000  eastward  he  subdued  Arme¬ 
nia  and  Mesopotamia  and  conducted  a  successful 
war  in  Persia  against  Shah  Ismail.  The  latter  was 
defeated  and  barely  escaped  from  capture  (1514). 


The  Period  of  Subjection  129 

Selim  captured  Tabriz  and  there  he  found  a  de¬ 
throned  prince  of  Temur’s  race  and  carried  him  to 
Constantinople. 

It  was  a  fortunate  thing  for  the  Christians,  that 
though  this  eastern  campaign  was  a  religious  war  it 
was  conducted  against  the  Sheahs  or  the  heterodox 
Mohammedans }  and  a  formal  expression  of  opinion 
by  the  Ulema  was,  that  there  was  “more  merit  in 
killing  one  Sheah  than  in  shedding  the  blood  of 
seventy  Christians.”  Selim’s  savage  intolerance  was 
so  fierce  that  he  thought  to  annihilate  every  member 
of  the  sect  in  hi3  dominions.1 

The  conflict  between  the  successors  of  Selim  I  and 
Shah  Ismail  in  Armenia  continued  with  varying 
fortunes.  But  one  of  the  notable  misfortunes  that 
befel  the  people  was  in  the  reign  of  Shah  Abbas,  a 
magnificent  barbarian.  He  was  one  of  the  Shahs  of 
the  Suffavian  dynasty,  and  was  preparing  for  a  con¬ 
flict  with  the  Turks  in  1605.  Pretending  that  he 
was  afraid  he  might  be  compelled  to  cede  the  prov¬ 
ince  which  he  had  conquered  to  the  enemy,  he  gave 
orders  to  his  army  to  vacate  immediately  as  many 
cities  and  towns  as  possible,  bum  them  to  ashes,  and 
drive  the  inhabitants  into  Persia.  Within  a  short 
time  many  a  city  and  town  lay  in  ashes,  and  the 
country  was  reduced  to  a  fearful  condition  of  deso¬ 
lation.  Thousands  sought  refuge  in  mountains  and 

1In  his  campaign  against  Syria  and  Egypt,  Selim  captured  Cairo,  de¬ 
posed,  the  last  Caliph  Al-mutawakkel.  Selim  was  invested  with  the  dig¬ 
nity  by  the  sheriff  of  Mecca,  who  consigned  the  keys  of  Kaaba  to  his  cus¬ 
tody.  He  added  the  title  of  defender  of  the  holy  cities  of  Mecca  and 
Medina.  His  successors  have  since  been  regarded  as  the  supreme  ohiefs 
of  the  orthodox  Moslem  world.  Milner,  “Turkish  Empire,”  p.  105. 


130  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

caves.  Some  found  a  refuge  but  others  were  found 
by  the  enemy,  and  twenty-five  thousand  families — 
some  before  and  some  after  this  event — were  led  into 
captivity. 

This  great  host  of  captives  was  composed  of  the 
venerable  patriarchs,  bishops,  priests,  old  men  and 
women;  children  of  all  ages;  mothers  with  their  in¬ 
fants  in  their  arms,  baptizing  them  with  their  tears ; 
gallant  young  men  and  beautiful  maidens.  These  all 
were  indiscriminately  driven  by  the  Persian  soldiers 
to  the  banks  of  the  Araxes,  where  rafts  and  galleys 
were  in  readiness  to  hasten  their  crossing  the  swift 
waters  of  the  river.  With  the  pretense  that  the 
enemy  was  pressing  hard,  they  compelled  many  to 
hasten  the  crossing  by  swimming  the  river,  many  of 
them  were  carried  in  the  current. 

Opposite  Ispahan  these  captives  were  settled  and 
built  New  Jula  (some  write  Julfa).  The  Jula 
proper  in  Armenia  was  destroyed  by  Shah  Abbas. 
The  Persians  were  conquerors  in  this  war:  “Upon 
the  sword  being  drawn  the  Persians  rapidly  recovered 
the  provinces  wrested  from  them  by  Selim  and  Soli- 
mon;  and  a  large  Turkish  army  was  signally  de¬ 
feated  August  the  24th,  1605.  Five  pashas  were 
slain;  the  same  number  were  taken  prisoners;  and 
the  victor  continued  to  receive  the  heads  of  his  ene¬ 
mies  till  midnight,  when  more  than  twenty  thousand 
had  been  counted.  Shah  Abbas  performed  pilgrim¬ 
ages  on  foot  to  the  shrines  of  Moslem  saints,  and 
swept  their  tombs.  Yet  while  doing  this  he  allowed 
a  Roman  Catholic  convent  to  be  established  at  Ispa- 


The  Period  of  Subjection  131 

ban,  stood  godfather  to  the  child  of  Sir  Robert  Shir¬ 
ley  ,  and  even  formally  received  baptism — events  to 
which  the  J esnits  ascribed  his  execrable  triumphs.1 

Sultan  Amurath  (Murath)  IV  marched,  with  a 
large  army,  against  the  Persians,  and  recovered  the 
provinces  of  Armenia  from  the  Persians.  He  then 
marched  and  laid  siege  to  Baghdad  which  the  Per- 
Bians  had  taken.  Ten  thousand  of  the  Persian  gar¬ 
rison  lost  their  lives  during  the  siege;  and  twenty 
thousand  more,  being  the  whole  number  in  the  town, 
were  massacred  during  and  immediately  after  the 
capture.  A  few  days  afterwards  an  equal  number 
of  the  inhabitants,  who  were  Sheahs,  were  slaugh¬ 
tered  by  the  triumphant  Sonnees  (1638). 

After  this  the  Armenians  in  Armenia  enjoyed  a 
comparative  rest  of  over  eighty  years.  They  bad 
some  time  to  repair  their  churches  and  schools,  mon¬ 
asteries  and  homes.  They  did  all  these  and  they  also 
lecuperated  and  raised  a  new  and  sturdy  posterity 
to  meet  the  hardships  of  the  eighteenth  century. 

During  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth  century 
some  disturbances  in  Persia  and  Armenia  made  the 
Armenians  in  both  of  these  countries  greatly  to  sutler. 
Then  again  the  Turks  and  the  Persians  were  not 
always  at  peace  with  one  another.  The  Russians, 
moreover,  were  slowly  moving  southward  and  prepar¬ 
ing  to  enter  into  the  contest.  They  contended  with 
the  Persians  over  the  northwestern  portion  of  Arme¬ 
nia  and  other  provinces  belonging  to  the  latter  from 
1772-1828.  In  their  contest  the  Armenians  rendered 

1  Milner,  “The  Turkish  Empire,”  pp.  135,  138, 


132  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

a  signal  service  to  the  Kussians  and  decided  the  vie- 
tory  for  them. 

“From  1813  to  1829  the  Armenians  appear  to  think 
their  emancipation  at  hand.  Russia  stood  in  need  of 
them  to  make  a  diversion  against  the  Ottoman  forces 
and  held  out  to  them  the  hope  of  becoming  an  inde¬ 
pendent  principality,  under  the  protection  of  the  Czar. 
Her  promises  were  believed,  and,  in  their  devotion  to 
their  destined  liberator,  they  withstood  for  more  than 
six  weeks  an  army  of  eighty  thousand  Persians  who 
were  marching  against  Russia,  and  prevented  them  from 
crossing  their  frontier;  but  these  services  reaped  a  poor 
reward,  for  not  only  were  the  Russians  faithless  to 
their  promises,  but  they  seized  the  opportunity  of  some 
trifling  disturbance  in  the  country  to  lay  violent  hands 
on  the  venerable  Archbishop  Narses,  who  was  dragged 
first  to  St.  Petersburg  and  afterward  banished  to  Bess¬ 
arabia,  whilst  several  of  the  Armenian  chiefs  were  scat¬ 
tered  in  exile  through  foreign  countries,  or  carried  off 
to  Russia,  to  be  heard  of  no  more.”  1 

Russia  also  wrested  from  the  degenerate  Turkish 
Empire  at  times,  especially  in  1878,  a  large  territory 
and  the  important  city  of  Kars  of  Armenia,  and  now 
the  Russian  armies  are  occupying  almost  all  of  Arme¬ 
nia,  and  it  is  hoped  that  not  a  foot  of  ground  in 
Armenia  will  be  returned  to  the  “unspeakable  Turk.” 

1  Ubicini,  "Letters  on  Turkey,”  Vol.  II,  p.  340. 


VHI 


A  GENERAL  SURVEY 

FROM  the  foregoing  history  it  will  easily  be 
understood  that  the  Armenians  have  been 
subjected  to  all  kinds  of  cruelties.  Owing  to 
calamitous  wars,  merciless  persecutions,  voluntary 
and  involuntary  exiles,  and  emigrations  into  differ¬ 
ent  countries,  they  have  been  justly  compared  to  the 
Jews.  Like  them  scattered  all  over  the  globe  the 
Armenians  are  met  with  in  every  commercial  city 
throughout  Europe  and  Asia.  However,  until  the 
beginning  of  1915  the  great  majority  of  them  still 
dwelled  in  the  land  of  Ararat  in  the  Turkish  empire. 
There  were  over  two  hundred  thousand  Armenians 
in  the  city  of  Constantinople,  and  as  many  in  other 
European  countries.  The  number  of  the  Armenians 
in  Turkish  Armenia  and  in  Asia  Minor  was  not 
considered  to  be  below  two  millions  and  a  half.1 

The  Armenians  lived  (before  this  world  war)  in 
their  respective  villages,  towns  and  cities.  If  a  town, 
or  village  is  not  exclusively  occupied  by  the  Arme¬ 
nians,  then  they  had  their  own  district  clustered  by 

1  The  total  number  of  Armenians  was  estimated  by  some  as  follows: 
2,900,000.  In  Turkey  1,500,000;  in  Russia  1,000,000;  in  Persia  150,000; 
in  Europe,  America,  and  East  Indies  250,000.  But  this  is  quite  a  low 
estimate.  (See  p.  146.) 


133 


134  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

themselves  with  sufficient  churches  and  schools  for 
their  religious  and  educational  needs.  The  dwellings 
in  the  villages  and  towns  are  of  primitive  style  in 
the  interior  being  built  either  of  unhewn  stone  en¬ 
tirely,  or  half  of  stone  and  half  of  sun-dried  bricks. 
The  roofs  are  flat.  Large  logs  or  beams  are  laid 
crosswise,  supported  by  strong  pillars.  These  are 
covered  with  planks  and  earth  to  a  thickness  of  two 
or  three  feet,  and  then  hardened  to  prevent  leaking. 
But  in  spite  of  all  sometimes  through  idleness  of 
lands,  the  house  droppeth  through.”  1 

Some  of  these  villages  are  built  on  the  hillsides, 
and  the  roofs  of  the  lower  row  of  houses  are  on  the 
level  with  the  streets  above,  or  with  the  yards  of  the 
houses  above.  Some  travelers,  careless  in  their  ob¬ 
servations  or  basing  their  statements  on  the  informa¬ 
tion  of  others,  betray  incorrectness  in  their  assertions 
in  regard  to  them  when  they  say  that  “the  inhabi¬ 
tants  are  literally  dwelling  under  ground.” 

The  villagers  and  some  dwellers  in  towns  were 
and  are  (what  is  left  of  them  in  Asia  Minor)  ex¬ 
clusively  engaged  in  agricultural  pursuits  and  the 
raising  and  tending  of  cattle  and  sheep,  their  land 
and  fold,  being  within  a  distance  of  several  miles 
from  the  villages  and  towns.  The  farmers  go  to 
their  fields  of  labor  in  the  morning  early  and  return 
in  the  evening  to  their  homes.  They  could  not  do 
like  the  farmers  in  this  country,  live  on  or  near 
their  farms  on  account  of  insecurity  of  life  and  prop¬ 
erty.  The  Turkish  government  had  determined  for 

1  Ecclesiastes  10:18.  Prov.  19:13  and  27:15. 


135 


A  General  Survey 

years  to  expose  tlie  Armenians  to  all  manner  of 
oppressions,  thefts,  plunders  and  murders  perpe¬ 
trated  by  the  Circassians,  Kurds  and  Turks,  espe- 
cially  the  former  two,  who  have  been  human  para¬ 
sites  on  the  Christian  inhabitants  of  Turkey. 

In  Armenia  many  families  formerly  could  be 
found  (still  some  may  be  found)  living  in  a  patri¬ 
archal  style  like  the  families  of  Abraham,  Job  and 
J acob,  who  could  raise  a  force  and  chase  the  invaders 
from  their  borders ;  the  younger  sons  and  grandsons 
with  the  hired  servants  tending  the  flocks  and  follow¬ 
ing  the  herds  like  J esse’s  younger  son,  and  not  a  few 
of  them  had  the  fate  that  Job’s  servants  had. 

Many  Armenian  youths  have  been  like  Jesse’s 
youngest  son,  leading  the  sheep  on  the  lonely  hills 
of  Armenia.  Yet  none  finds  the  life  of  an  Oriental 
shepherd  an  easy  and  pleasant  one,  not  only  be¬ 
cause  it  is  exposed  to  dangerous  conflicts  with  rob¬ 
bers,  thieves,  wild  beasts  and  ravenous  wolves,  but 
also  the  irksome  anxiety  to  find  green  pastures  and 
still  waters  to  lead  the  flocks  thereto.  Added  to  this 
is  the  feeling  of  loneliness  day  and  night  and  com¬ 
pulsive  association  with  the  mute  creature  whom  they 
call  by  their  names.  Some  shepherds  again,  like 
David,  have  a  source  of  comfort,  not  the  harp,  but 
their  flutes,  and  the  sheep  seem  to  delight  to  listen 
to  those  pensive  melodies,  when  the  shepherds  play, 
while  the  shepherd-dogs  with  their  accredited  faith¬ 
fulness,  always  follow  the  flocks. 

The  farming  implements  are  also  in  primitive  sim¬ 
plicity,  like  the  mode  of  cultivation.  The  western 


136  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

plows,  planters,  sowers,  cultivators,  reapers,  and  self- 
binders  and  threshing  machines  are  comparatively 
unknown  in  most  of  the  places  in  the  Turkish  Ar¬ 
menia.  The  employment  of  oxen  and  tamed  buf¬ 
faloes,  instead  of  horses  in  some  hilly  and  rocky  dis¬ 
tricts,  for  hauling  and  farming  might  be  justifiable, 
but  in  many  places  and  for  many  many  purposes  on 
the  farm  the  horses  could  be  used  with  advantage. 
They  are  not,  however,  except  for  riding  and 
traveling. 

It  is  due  to  the  inexhaustive  fertility  of  the  land 
and  to  the  industry  of  the  people,  and  not  to  the 
modern  improvements  or  advantageous  circum¬ 
stances,  that  the  inhabitants  of  Armenia  have  not 
starved  long  ago.  If  we,  moreover,  remember  the 
absence  of  railroads  and  good  roads,  the  difficulty 
of  transportation  of  the  products  into  the  market, 
the  dangers  from  the  highway  robbers  encountered  in 
traveling  which  paralyze  the  spirit  of  enterprise  and 
energy  of  the  farmer,  we  well  may  be  surprised  to 
know  that  they  not  only  make  a  living,  but  that  thou¬ 
sands  of  bushels  of  grain  were  annually  exported  into 
the  European  countries. 

In  every  village,  town  and  city  of  Armenia  and 
in  Asia  Minor  where  there  were  and  are  Armenians, 
churches  and  schools  are  found,  one,  two,  or  more  of 
them  according  to  the  numbers  of  the  Armenian  in¬ 
habitants.  Some  of  these  villages  and  towns  are 
wholly  inhabited  by  the  Mohammedans  who  have 
seized  the  property  of  the  Christians  and  have  also 


A  General  Survey  137 

converted  their  churches  into  mosques  and  their 
schools  into  tehes  (schools). 

Many  of  the  churches  are  of  great  antiquity,  but 
some  only  a  few  centuries  old.  They  are  invariably 
of  substantial  characters.  One  of  the  peculiarities  of 
the  older  churches  is  that  their  entrances  or  doors 
are  quite  small  and  low.  The  reason  of  this  was  and 
still  is  in  the  interior  to  prevent  the  enemies  of  their 
religion  from  desecrating  the  sacred  edifices  by  put¬ 
ting  their  horses  into  the  churches  and  converting 
them  into  stables,  as  the  greatest  insult  to  Chris¬ 
tianity  and  a  single  triumph  of  Mohammedanism. 
Sultan  Bajazet  himself  boasted  he  “would  one  day 
feed  his  horse  at  Rome  with  a  bushel  of  oats  on  the 
altar  of  St.  Peter’s.”  What  Bajazet  and  others  of 
his  type  and  character  boasted  that  they  would  do 
in  Europe,  so  both  long  before  and  after  him,  others 
have  done  it  in  Armenia  and  elsewhere;  and  even 
worse,  as  the  following  verse,  composed  by  our  im¬ 
mortal  “prince  of  poets.”  Nerses  Shnorhali  (grace¬ 
ful  or  gracious),  who  lived  in  the  twelfth  century: 

“Close  by  the  altar  in  the  sacred  fane, 

Where  daily  God’s  own  paschal  lamb  was  slain, 

Hadji,  the  impious,  made  vile  harlots  sing, 

And  drunken  broils  throughout  the  temple  ring.,, 

The  Armenians,  living  in  large  towns  and  cities, 
were  and  are  engaged  in  various  occupations.  The 
following  trades  were  almost  exclusively  in  the  hands 
of  the  Armenians  in  Asiatic  and  partly  in  European 
Turkey:  Blacksmithing,  goldsmithing,  coppersmith- 
ing,  locksmithing,  watchmaking,  shoemaking,  tailor- 


138  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

ing,  weaving,  printing,  dyeing,  carpentry,  masonry, 
architecture,  etc.  Some  are  storekeepers  of  all  sorts. 
Others  are  merchants  and  traveling  merchants, 
money-brokers,  bankers,  lawyers  and  physicians. 
“The  Armenian  nation,”  says  a  writer,  “is  the  life 
of  Turkey.”  But  the  Turks  have  been  committing 
suicide  by  attempting  to  annihilate  the  Armenians 
in  the  Empire.  Another  says,  “They  are  a  noble 
race  and  have  been  called  The  Anglo-Saxons  of  the 
East.’  They  are  an  active  and  enterprising  class. 
Shrewd,  industrious  and  persevering,  they  are  the 
bankers  of  Constantinople,  the  artisans  of  Turkey, 
and  the  merchants  of  Western  and  Central  Asia.” 

One  of  the  first  missionaries  of  the  American 
Board,  the  Rev.  Dr.  H.  G.  O.  Dwight,  says:  “The 
principal  merchants  are  Armenians,  and  so  are 
nearly  all  the  great  bankers  of  the  Turkish  govern¬ 
ment  j  and  whatever  arts  there  are  that  require  pe¬ 
culiar  ingenuity  and  skill,  are  almost  sure  to  be  in 
the  hands  of  Armenians.” 

“In  these  Armenian  provinces  of  Russia  the  ma¬ 
chinery  of  administration  is  conducted  by  a  handful 
of  Russian  officials  through  Armenians,  who  are  em¬ 
ployed  even  in  the  higher  grades.  The  Armenian 
is  a  man  of  ancient  culture  and  high  national  ca¬ 
pacity  ;  neither  the  instinct  nor  the  quality  would  be 
claimed  by  his  Russian  superior.  .  .  .  Moreover, 
the  Russian  official  gives  the  impression  of  being  over¬ 
whelmed  by  his  system,  like  a  child  to  whom  his 
lessons  are  new,  and  when  you  see  him  at  work 
among  such  a  people  as  the  Armenians,  you  ask  your- 


A  General  Survey  139 

self  how  it  has  happened  that  a  race  with  all  the 
aptitudes  are  governed  by  such  wooden  figures. ” 1 

One  more  quotation  from  another  Englishman, 
which  will  be  an  exception  from  the  other  testi¬ 
monies,  yet  the  exception  proves  the  rule:  “As  a 
people  (the  Armenians)  there  are  few  who  have  a 
good  word  for  them.  They  are  said  to  be  cowardly 
and  treacherous,  to  he  mere  money  grubbers,  and  so 
on  ad  nauseum .  The  charges  vary ;  but  all  agree  that 
the  objects  of  them  are  objectionable  somehow.  They 
seem,  in  fact,  to  be  a  sort  of  ‘Dr.  EelP  of  nationali¬ 
ties  for  every  one  dislikes  them,  though  often  enough 
they  cannot  tell  the  reason.  Even  the  writer,  who 
has  not  the  least  objection  to  thieves,  murderers,  and 
devil-worshipers,  who  has  kindly  feeling  for  a  suc¬ 
cessful  cheat,  admits  to  getting  on  less  well  with 
Armenians  than  with  other  Orientals.” 2  Surely 
does  the  exception  prove  the  rule.  Every  Armenian 
ought  to  be  thankful  that  he  is  not  a  thief,  he  is 
not  a  murderer,  he  is  not  a  devil-worshiper  or  even 
a  successful  cheat,  so  as  to  merit  this  Eev.  Dr.  Wig- 
ram’s  approval.  However,  there  are  some  things  that 
man  cannot  deny ;  so  this  writer  is  compelled  to  say, 
“And  yet  there  is  much  about  them  that  anyone  must 
admire.  ...  In  the  massacres  of  1895,  armed  men 
were  butchering  unarmed,  and  there  was  no  test  of 
anything  but  passive  endurance.  Yet  how  many 
could  have  saved  their  lives  by  a  mere  verbal  accept¬ 
ance  (of  Mohammedanism)  ?”  But  they  did  not. 


1  Lynch,  “Armenia,  Travels  and  Studies,”  Vol.  I,  p.  60. 

2  Wigram,  “The  Cradle  of  Mankind,”  p.  237. 


140  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

In  the  days  of  old  the  Armenians  were  also  noted 
as  merchants  and  traders  in  Western  Asia.  Hero¬ 
dotus,  the  great  historian  who  lived  in  the  fifth  cen¬ 
tury  before  Christ,  tells  us  that  next  to  the  marvelous 
city  Babylon  were  the  boats  constructed  in  Armenia 
by  the  Armenian  merchants  in  the  following 
manner : 

“But  the  greatest  wonder  of  all  that  I  saw  in  the 
land,  after  the  city  itself,  I  will  now  proceed  to  men¬ 
tion.  The  boats  which  came  down  the  river  (Euphrates) 
to  Babylon  are  circular  and  made  of  skin.  The  frames 
which  are  of  willow,  are  cut  in  the  country  of  the 
Armenians  above  Assyria  and  on  these,  which  serve 
for  hulls,  a  covering  of  skin  is  stretched  outside  and 
thus  the  boats  are  made,  without  either  stem  or  stern, 
quite  round  like  a  shield.  They  are  then  entirely  filled 
with  straw,  and  their  cargo  is  put  on  the  board,  after 
which  they  are  suffered  to  float  down  the  stream.  Their 
chief  freight  is  wine,  stored  in  casks  made  of  the  wood 
of  the  palmtrees. 

“They  are  managed  by  two  men,  who  stand  upright 
in  them,  each  plying  an  oar,  one  pulling  and  the  other 
pushing.  The  boats  are  of  various  sizes,  some  larger, 
some  smaller ;  the  biggest  reach  as  high  as  five  thousand 
talents  burthen.  Each  vessel  has  a  live  ass  on  board; 
those  of  larger  size  have  more  than  one.  When  they 
reach  Babylon  the  cargo  is  landed  and  offered  for  sale, 
after  which  the  men  break  up  their  boats,  sell  the  straw 
and  fiames,  and,  loading  their  asses  with  the  skins, 
set  off  on  their  way  back  to  Armenia.  The  current  is 
too  strong  to  allow  a  boat  to  return  upstream,  for  which 
reason  they  make  their  boats  of  skin  rather  than  wood. 
On  their  return  to  Armenia  they  build  fresh  boats  for 
the  next  voyage.” 1 

1  RawKnson,  “Herodotus,”  Book  I,  p.  194. 


A  General  Survey  141 

The  prophet  Ezekiel,  more  than  a  hundred  and 
H-fty  years  before  the  time  of  Herodotus,  in  his  enu¬ 
meration  of  the  ancient  merchant  nations  who  were 
engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits  with  the  Phoenicians 
in  the  markets  of  Tyre,  speaks  of  the  Armenians 
under  the  popular  appellation  of  “the  house  of  To¬ 
garmah.”  They  of  the  house  of  Togarmah  traded 
in  thy  fairs  with  horses  and  horsemen  and  mules.”  1 

The  descendants  of  Togarmah,  on  account  of  their 
ingenuity  and  intelligence,  have  accumulated-  great 
wealth,  and  demanded,  by  fitness,  from  the  indolent 
Turk,  many  high  trusts  in  the  government  and  its 
affairs,  but  by  the  jealousy,  cruelty,  and  cupidity  of 
the  latter  many  of  them  have  been  precipitated  from 
their  elevated  state  and  prosperity  into  terrible 
misery,  often  ending  in  execution. 

“The  most  remarkable  circumstance  is  that  these 
Armenians  who  have  undergone  execution  have  the 
modes  of  their  death  commemorated  on  their  sepul¬ 
chres  by  the  effigies  of  men  being  hung,  strangled  or 
beheaded.  In  explanation  it  is  stated  that  having  be¬ 
come  wealthy  by  their  industry,  they  suffered  as  victims 
to  the  cupidity  of  former  governments,  not  as  criminals ; 
and  hence  their  ignominious  death  was  really  honorable 
to  them  and  worthy  of  a  memorial.  An  inscription  on 
one  of  the  tombs  of  this  class  is  as  follows : 

‘‘You  see  my  place  of  burial  here  in  this  verdant  field, 

I  give  my  goods  to  the  robber, 

My  soul  to  the  regions  of  death; 

The  world  I  leave  to  God, 

And  my  blood  I  shed  in  the  Holy  Spirit. 


1  Ezekiel  27:14. 


142  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

You  who  meet  my  tomb, 

Say  for  me 

‘Lord,  I  have  sinned.’ 

1197.”  1 

Sultan  Mohammed  II  after  he  made  Constanti¬ 
nople  his  capital  appointed  Bishop  Onaghim,  of 
Brousa,  patriarch  over  the  Armenians  in  his  domin¬ 
ions  in  1461,  as  the  head  of  his  people  with  certain 
privileges.  This  custom  of  appointing  the  patriarchs 
by  the  Sultans  continued  for  a  long  time.  But  it 
did  not  prove  to  be  the  popular  way,  on  account  of 
abuses  of  procuring  the  offices,  and  unqualified  per¬ 
sons  often  obtaining  the  appointment  by  the  influ¬ 
ence  of  their  friends.  The  nation,  therefore,  obtained 
the  right  from  the  Porte  to  choose  her  own  patriarch 
by  suffrage.  The  appointment,  however,  had  to  be 
ratified  by  the  Sultan  of  Turkey. 

Some  prominent  Armenians  drew  up  a  Constitution 
in  1860  and  presented  it  to  the  Turkish  government 
for  approval.  The  Porte  approved  it  with  a  few 
changes.  The  following  is  the  introduction  of  the 
Constitution : 

“The  privileges  granted  by  the  Ottoman  Empire  to 
its  non-Mohammedan  subjects  are  in  their  principles 
equal  for  all,  but  the  mode  of  their  execution  varies 
according  to  the  requirements  of  the  particular  customs 
of  each  nationality. 

“The  Armenian  patriarch  is  the  head  of  his  nation, 

1  Milner,  “  The  Turkish  Empire,”  p.  264.  The  date  possibly  is  the 
Armenian  which  begins  551,  and  which  brings  up  to  a.d.  1748.  About 
this  time,  two  wealthy  and  influential  Armenians,  who  were  especially 
connected  with  the  government,  were  beheaded,  and  four  others,  who 
also  were  holders  of  high  places  in  the  governmental  affairs,  were  executed 
in  1817. 


143 


A  General  Survey 

and  in  particular  circumstances  the  medium  of  execu¬ 
tion  of  the  orders  of  the  government.  There  is,  how¬ 
ever,  in  the  patriarchate  a  Religious  Assembly  for  par¬ 
ticular  affairs.  In  case  of  necessity  these  two  unite  and 
form  the  mixed  Assembly.  Both  the  patriarch  and 
members  of  these  Assemblies  are  elected  in  a  general 
Assembly  composed  of  honorable  men  of  the  nation. 

“As  the  office  and  duties  of  the  above  Assemblies  and 
the  mode  of  their  formation  are  not  defined  by  sufficient 
rules,  for  this  reason  different  inconveniences  and  special 
difficulties  in  the  formation  of  the  general  Assembly 
has  been  noticed. 

“As  each  community  is  bound  according  to  the  new 
Imperial  Edict  (Hatti  Humayan  6-18  of  Feb.,  1856) 
to  examine  within  a  given  time  its  rights  and  privileges 
and  after  due  deliberation  to  present  to  the  sublime 
Porte  the  reforms  required  by  the  present  state  of  things 
and  progress  of  civilization  of  our  times. 

“As  it  is  necessary  to  harmonize  the  authority  and 
power  to  the  religions  of  each  nationality  with  the  new 
condition  and  system  secured  to  each  community, 

“A  committee  of  some  honorable  persons  of  the  nation 
was  organized,  which  committee  prepared  the  following 
Constitution.” 

The  General  Assembly  is  the  principal  body  of 
the  national  representative  administration,  which  is 
composed  of  one  hundred  forty  members,  twenty  of 
these  are  clergymen,  elected  from  Constantinople, 
forty  are  representatives  elected  from  provinces,  and 
eighty  are  representatives  from  the  districts  of  the 
capital.  This  assembly  is  elected  for  ten  years, 
but  one-fifth  of  its  membership  is  changed  by  election 
every  two  years.  Thus  the  whole  Assembly  is 
changed  every  ten  years.  The  General  Assembly  as- 


144  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

sumes  the  entire  responsibility  of  the  national  affairs ; 
the  patriarch  is  the  presiding  officer.  There  are  two 
other  assemblies  or  councils:  Ecclesiastical  or  reli¬ 
gious  and  political  or  civil.  The  former  consists  of 
fourteen  clergymen,  the  latter  is  composed  of  twenty 
lay  members.  The  members  of  these  councils  are 
also  elected  from  the  General  Assembly  for  two 
years. 

The  ecclesiastical  council  has  its  sphere  of  action 
in  religious  matters  and  is  the  highest  religious  au¬ 
thority  in  the  Turkish  empire.  The  political  or  civil 
council  is  the  civil  authority,  and  has  four  sub¬ 
councils  or  committees  under  its  supervision  through 
which  to  operate,  namely,  council  of  Kevenues,  coun¬ 
cil  of  Expenditures,  Judicatory  Council  and  Educa¬ 
tional  Council  (or  the  committee  on  Education). 
These  names  indicate  the  sphere  of  their  activities 
or  duties. 

This  mode  of  operation  or  division  of  the  work  is 
carried  out  into  the  provinces  wherever  Armenians 
are  found.  The  Bishops  or  their  substitutes  are  the 
presidents  of  these  provincial  councils.  And  all  the 
councils  and  sub-councils  in  the  provinces  and  in  the 
districts  of  Constantinople  are  amenable  to  the  Gen¬ 
eral  Assembly,  and  the  Assembly  and  the  Patriarch 
to  the  Porte.1 

Oppressions,  resulting  from  wars,  political  and 

*The  Turkish  government  promulgated  a  decree,  on  August  12,  1916, 
which  revokes  the  Constitution  of  the  Armenian  community  in  Turkey, 
and  creates  an  ecclesiastical  head  for  the  administration  of  religious  mattera 
with  his  seat  in  Jerusalem,  thus  abolishing  the  office  of  Armenian  patriarch 
in  Constantinople. 


145 


A  General  Survey 

religious,  persecutions,  the  division  of  the  country 
among  different  powers,  and  the  desire  of  the  people 
to  better  themselves  have  caused  the  people  to  scatter 
from  their  paternal  homes  all  over  the  world.  An 
early  company  of  emigrants  entered  India  via  Persia. 
After  the  appearance  of  the  East  India  Company, 
the  Armenians  rendered  the  Company  very  impor¬ 
tant  services,  acting  as  interpreters.  Thus  they  also 
received  special  privileges  as  traders  and  became  very 
wealthy.  In  every  important  city  they  have  their 
churches  and  schools  and  printing  press.  They  have 
been  also  liberal  in  giving  large  sums  for  the  educa¬ 
tion  of  the  poor  and  orphan  Armenian  children. 

The  Armenians  in  Persia,  or  under  the  Persian 
rule,  are  not  in  a  very  desirable  condition,  from  a  re¬ 
ligious  and  educational  point  of  view.  Especially 
those  living  in  Western  Persia,  or  Pers-Armenia, 
are  subject  to  all  sorts  of  cruelties  at  the  hands  of 
the  Kurds,  with  whom  they  unfortunately  neighbor. 
But  the  presence  of  the  Russian  armies  who  occupy 
these  regions  may  be  the  end  of  oppression  in  the 
East. 

Russia  having  in  the  last  century  wrested  from  Per¬ 
sia  and  Turkey  a  large  portion  of  Armenia,  there  are 
over  a  million  of  Armenians  in  the  Armenian  prov¬ 
inces  of  Russia,  besides  those  who  reside  in  the  com¬ 
mercial  cities  of  the  same  empire.  Their  financial 
and  intellectual  condition  is  far  better  than  that  of 
those  living  in  Persia,  or  in  the  interior  of  the  Turk¬ 
ish  provinces  of  Armenia.  Kow  that  the  entire  Ar¬ 
menia  is  occupied  by  the  Russian  forces,  the  prospect 


146  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

is  that  probably  the  dawn  of  the  liberty  of  the  long 
oppressed  Armenians  is  at  band.  Russia  of  this  cen¬ 
tury  is  different  from  the  Russia  of  the  past.  She 
will  be  liberty-loving,  the  good  company  that  she  is 
in  will  guide  her  to  heal  the  wounds  made  in  the 
past,  and  make  those  who  have  served  her  faithfully, 
both  in  the  past  and  at  the  present,  acknowledge  her 
as  their  liberator. 

A  proximate  estimate  of  the  number  of  Armenians 
in  different  countries  in  the  world  may  be  given  as 
follows:  Two  millions  in  the  Turkish  empire,  before 
the  war ;  one  million  and  three  hundred  thousand  in 
Russian  Armenia  and  in  the  same  empire;  one  hun¬ 
dred  and  fifty  thousand  in  Persia  and  in  other  east¬ 
ern  countries;  one  hundred  thousand  in  European 
countries  and  a  hundred  thousand  in  America ;  total 
three  million  and  six  hundred  fifty  thousand. 

The  Armenians  belong  to  the  branch  of  the  human 
family  which  is  commonly  called  the  Aryan  Race. 
The  nations  of  Aryan  stock  extend  from  Hindustan 
or  India  to  Europe,  for  this  reason  it  is  also  called 
Indo-European  or  Indo-Germanic.  This  Aryan  race 
is  geographically  divided  into  two  branches,  the  east¬ 
ern  and  the  western.  The  western  branch  compre¬ 
hends  the  inhabitants  of  Europe  with  the  exception 
of  the  Turks  and  others  of  Mongolian  origin.  The 
eastern  branch  comprehends  the  Armenians,  the  Per¬ 
sians  the  ancient  Medes  and  Afghans  and  the  in¬ 
habitants  of  Northern  Hindustan. 

The  studies  of  anthropology,  philology,  psychology 
and  sociology  have  confirmed  the  original  unity  of 


A  General  Survey  147 

these  nations.  The  Armenian  language  also,  there¬ 
fore,  belongs  to  the  Indo-European  family  (the  occi¬ 
dental  branch)  of  languages.  This  is  proved  not 
only  by  numerous  words  with  the  identical  sense  in 
this  family  of  languages,  hut  also  by  the  very  con¬ 
struction  of  the  language  itself.  “In  any  case  it  is 
clear  that  many  of  the  oldest  forms  which  the  Arme¬ 
nian  shared  with  other  Indo-Germanic  dialects  were 
lost  and  replaced  by  forms  of  which  the  origin  is 
obscure.  .  .  .  The  attempt  made  by  S.  Bugge  to 
assimilate  Old  Armenia  (language)  to  Etruscan,  and 
by  P.  Jesen  to  explain  from  it  the  Hittite  inscrip¬ 
tions,  appear  to  be  fanciful.”  1 

There  are,  however,  two  Armenian  languages,  the 
ancient  and  the  modern ;  the  former  was  the  language 
of  the  pre-Christian  era?  and  after  the  conversion 
of  the  nation,  and  the  translation  of  the  Bible  into 
the  same,  it  became  the  standard  language  of  litera¬ 
ture.  “In  its  syntactical  structure  the  Old  Armenian 
resembles  most  nearly  the  classical  Greek.”  The 
modern  Armenian  is  not  a  distinct  language,  but  it 
is  simplified  and  adapted  to  the  present  use  of  the 
most  of  the  people.  Within  little  more  than  a  cen¬ 
tury  it  has  become  a  very  rich  language  by  numerous 
original  and  translated  works,  by  periodicals  and 
papers  published  in  various  centers  of  learning,  and 
especially  by  the  translation  of  the  Bible.  The  rela¬ 
tions  of  the  modern  to  the  ancient  Armenian  might 
well  be  compared  with  that  of  the  modern  Greek  to 
ancient  Greek  language. 

i Encyclopedia  Britannica,  the  tlth  ed.,  under  the  article,  "The  Ar¬ 
menian  Language.’! 


148  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

The  Armenian  literature  of  the  pre-Christian  era 
has  not  survived,  excepting  a  few  fragmentary  songs, 
which  lingered  until  the  time  of  Moses  of  Khorene, 
in  whose  history  of  Armenia  they  are  preserved ;  and 
the  inscriptions  of  Van,  which  some  claim  as  “the 
oldest  specimens  of  the  Asiatic  branch  of  the  Indo- 
Germanic  family.” 

Christianity  brought  with  it  into  Armenia  a  great 
love  for  learning.  After  the  conversion  of  the  nation, 
Armenian  youths  flocked  into  the  schools  of  Alex¬ 
andria,  Constantinople  and  Athens.  Most  of  them 
engaged  in  translating  valuable  works  from  the  Greek 
and  other  languages  into  the  Armenian.  A  writer 
speaks  of  these  translators  in  this  manner:  “Some 
of  them  attained  celebrity  in  this  chosen  pursuit. 
To  this  tendency  we  owe  the  preservation,  in  Arme¬ 
nian,  of  many  works  that  have  perished  in  their 
original  languages.”  “Hundreds  of  other  transla¬ 
tions  from  Syriac  and  Greek  writers  soon  followed 
(the  translations  of  the  Bible),  some  of  which  are 
extant  only  in  Armenian.” 

The  original  works  consist  of  theological  and  ex¬ 
pository  discourses,  commentaries,  histories,  sacred 
songs,  devotional  works,  etc.  “The  existing  litera¬ 
ture  of  the  Armenians  dates  from  the  fourth  century 
and  is  essentially  and  exclusively  Christian.”  This 
“literature  is  rich  and  continuous,  uninterrupted 
through  all  the  middle  ages.  It  has  furnished  the 
philosophers,  historians,  theologians,  and  poets.”  The 
catalogue  of  the  works  in  the  library  of  Etchmiadsin 
contains  about  5000  titles. 


A  General  Survey  149 

“They  (the  Armenians)  are  a  people  of  fine  physical 
development,  often  of  high  stature  and  powerful  frame, 
industrious  and  peaceable,  yet  more  jealous  of  their 
rights  and  liberties  than  any  other  Oriental  race.  They 
passionately  cherish  the  memory  of  their  fathers,  and 
preserve  the  use  of  their  national  language,  which  be¬ 
longs  to  the  Indo-European  family,  and  possess  a  liter - 
ture  of  considerable  importance”  1 

“These  Armenians  are  a  superb  race  of  men  .  .  .  ; 
their  physiognomy  is  intelligent.  They  are  the  Swiss 
of  the  East.  Industrious,  peaceable,  regular  in  their 
habits,  they  resemble  them  also  in  calculation  and  love 
of  gain.  The  women  are  lovely ;  their  features  are  pure 
and  delicate,  and  their  serene  expression  recalls  the 
beauty  of  the  women  of  the  British  Islands  or  the  peas¬ 
ants  of  Switzerland.”  2 

“By  nature  the  Armenians  are  deeply  religious,  as 
their  whole  literature  and  history  show .  It  has  been  a 
religion  of  the  heart,  not  of  the  head.  Its  evidence  is 
not  to  be  found  in  metaphysical  discussions  and  hair¬ 
splitting  theology,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Greek,  but  in 
a  brave  and  simple  record  written  with  the  tears  of 
saints  and  illuminated  with  the  blood  of  martyrs.”  3 

There  is  no  nation  in  the  world  which  has  suffered 
as  much  persecution,  oppression,  injustice  and  mar¬ 
tyrdom  as  the  Armenians,  yet  there  is  not  a  nation, 
even  with  less  advantages,  that  can  compare  with 
them  in  education.  They  are  like  the  Jews  also  in 
this  respect  that  wherever  there  is  a  sufficient  num¬ 
ber,  they  have  a  church  and  close  by  is  a  school. 
There  is  less  illiteracy  among  the  Armenians  than 
among  some  Roman  Catholic  countries. 

1  Van  Lennep,  “The  Bible  Lands,”  p.  367. 

2  Lamartine,  “Voyage  en  Orient,”  Vol.  II,  p.  190. 

*  Greene,  “The  Armenian  Crisis  in  Turkey,”  p.  140. 


150  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

Since  the  coming  of  the  Catholic  and  Protestant 
missionaries  a  new  impetus  has  been  imparted  to  the 
Armenians  in  the  line  of  education.  Mukhetar  of 
Sebaste,  an  Armenian  monk,  established  an  order  of 
the  Catholic  monks  at  the  convent  of  St.  Lazarus  in 
Venice  (1717),  which  became  a  great  center  of  learn¬ 
ing.  The  monks  of  this  order  and  monastery  have 
rendered  great  service  for  the  education  of  the  Arme¬ 
nians  in  general,  and  the  Catholic  Armenians  in  par¬ 
ticular.  “ These  fathers  have  won  the  interest  and 
admiration  of  European  scholars  by  their  publication 
of  Armenian  classics,  together  with  many  learned 
original  contributions.”  1 

The  Armenian  youths  also,  like  in  the  olden  times, 
flocked  into  other  centers  of  learning  both  in  Europe 
and  America.  Roberts7  College,  in  Constantinople, 
had  the  largest  number  of  Armenian  students  from 
its  beginning  (1860).  The  native  schools,  in  every 
town  and  city  in  the  provinces,  were  also  very  much 
improved;  moreover,  the  Protestant  mission  schools 
of  all  grades  were  also  freely  patronized  by  many.2 
The  Christian  civilization  and  education  brought  out 
the  metal  and  character  of  the  Armenians,  and  also 
created  in  the  hearts  of  the  Mohammedan  rulers  the 
rankest  kind  of  hatred  against  the  former.  So  they 
have  decided  to  destroy  both  the  Christian  and  Chris¬ 
tianity  in  their  native  home.  Mohammedanism  is  a 
moral  and  religious  photophobia ;  it  dreads  the  light 

1  The  Mukhitarists  also  have  translated  from  the  Greek,  French  and 
English  classics.  The  writer  read  Milton’s  "Paradise  Lost”  first  in  Ar¬ 
menian  translated  by  the  fathers  of  Mukhitar’s  order. 

2  See  Chapter  X,  pp.  122  and  123. 


151 


A  General  Survey 

of  civilization  and  Christianity.  So  the  ministers, 
priests  and  teachers  are  slaughtered;  the  churches 
and  schools  are  burnt  down  by  the  followers  of  the 
false  prophet. 

A  few  samples  of  Armenian  poems  also  might  have 
been  given  hut  my  determination  not  to  write  a  large 
book  restrains  me.  The  following  is  a  poem — one 
of  many — written  by  Father  Leo  Alishan,  a  monk 
of  the  Mukhetarist  order  of  the  convent  at  Venice, 
translated  by  Alice  Stone  Blackwell : 

WEEP  NOT 
(Jesus  is  Near) 

Why  art  thou  troubled,  wandering  heart? 

Why  dost  thou  sigh  with  pain? 

From  whom  do  all  thy  sufferings  come? 

Of  whom  dost  thou  complain? 

Is  there  no  cure  for  wounds,  no  friend 
To  lend  a  pitying  ear? 

Why  art  thou  troubled,  wandering  heart? 

Weep  not!  See  Jesus  near! 

Sorrow  and  hardship  are  for  all 
Though  differing  forms  they  wear. 

The  path  He  gave  us  teems  with  thorns, 

The  feet  must  suffer  there. 

What  life,  though  but  a  day’s  brief  span, 

Is  free  from  pain  and  woe? 

JTis  not  for  mortals  born  in  grief 
To  live  at  ease  below. 

Not,  for  the  transient  joys  of  earth 
Thy  heart  to  thee  was  given, 

But  for  an  instrument  of  grief 
To  raise  thy  life  toward  heaven. 


152 


Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

If  joys  be  few,  if  pains  abound, 

If  balms  bring  slow  relief, 

If  wounds  be  sore  and  nature  weak, 

Thy  earthly  life  is  brief. 

This  is  the  vale  of  death  and  pain, 
Ordained  for  ancient  sin, 

Except  through  anguish,  Eden’s  gate 
No  soul  shall  enter  in. 

Justice  ordained  it;  mercy  then 
Made  it  more  light  to  bear. 

Unasked  by  thee,  Christ  sweetened  it, 

His  love  infusing  there. 

From  heaven’s  height  He  hastened  down, 
Pitying  thy  trouble  sore; 

With  thee  a  servant  He  became 
Himself  thy  wounds  he  bore. 

He  filled  His  cup  celestial 
Full  of  thy  tears  and  pain, 

And  tremblingly,  yet  freely, 

He  dared  the  dregs  to  drain. 

Remembering  this,  wilt  thou  not  drink 
Thy  cup  of  tears  and  care? 

’Tis  proffered  by  thy  Saviour’s  hand, 

His  love  is  mingled  there. 

He  feels  and  pities  all  thy  woes, 

He  wipes  away  each  tear; 

Love  He  distils  into  thy  griefs; 

Weep  not,  for  He  is  near. 

Blackwell, Armenian  Poems,”  pp.  112-114. 


IX 


THE  REFORMED  CHURCH 

IT  has  seemed  to  the  writer  unnecessary  in  the 
preceding  pages  to  say  much  about  the  unim¬ 
portant  ceremonies,  forms  and  certain  super¬ 
stitious  practices  which  have  crept  into  the  Armenian 
church.  But  it  has  been  admitted  that,  owing  to 
various  causes  and  corrupt  influences  of  both  so  called 
Christian  and  non-Christian  nations  about  them,  the 
Armenians  were  unable  to  preserve  the  noble  apos¬ 
tolic  Church  in  its  simplicity  and  purity. 

A  brief  reference  already  has  been  made  to  the 
emissaries  and  missionaries  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church,  who  early,  though  unsuccessfully,  endeavored 
to  bring  the  Armenian  Church  under  the  influence 
and  control  of  the  popes  of  Rome.  Yet  it  may  not 
be  considered  a  complete  failure,  especially  after  the 
establishment  of  the  Mukhetarist  convent  and  the 
activities  of  its  monks,  who  edited  many  ancient 
Armenian  works  of  those  who  were  leaning  toward 
the  papal  views.  As  the  result  about  one  hundred 
thousand  Armenians  cut  loose  from  the  Mother 
Church  and  formed  the  Catholic  Armenian  Church. 
This  separation  was  completed  by  the  appointment  in 
1830  of  the  Sultan  of  Turkey  a  patriarch  over  the 

153 


154  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

Catholic  Armenians.  This  missionary  work  has  not 
advanced  much  since. 

A  few  centuries  ago  news  traveled  a  great  deal 
slower  than  it  does  now.  The  great  Reformation  in 
Europe,  which  shook  the  foundations  of  some  govern¬ 
ments,  and  shaped  the  destiny  of  the  nations  in  the 
west,  was  not  expected  to  die  out  without  some  little 
stir  in  the  east.  An  Armenian  priest  wrote  a  book 
in  1760,  praising  the  great  reformer,  Martin  Luther, 
and  his  work,  and  called  the  attention  of  the  people 
to  the  need  for  reformation  in  their  own  church.  It 
is  a  pity  that  his  book  was  never  printed.  It  was, 
however,  more  or  less,  circulated  and  did  its  good 
work.  The  publication  and  circulation  of  the  Bible 
by  the  British  and  Russian  Bible  Societies  succeeded 
the  above  incident  in  the  beginning  of  the  last  cen¬ 
tury.  These  events  paved  the  way  for  a  greater 
movement. 

The  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  For¬ 
eign  Missions  was  organized  at  Bradford,  Mass.,  June 
29,  1810.  Mr.  Parsons  “on  his  first  visit  to  Jeru¬ 
salem  in  1821  encountered  some  Armenian  pilgrims, 
whose  interesting  conversation  drew  from  him  the 
suggestion  of  a  mission  to  Armenia  itself.  ‘W e  shall 
rejoice/  said  they,  ‘and  all  will  rejoice  when  they 
arrive.’  ” 

Several  Armenian  clergymen  espoused  the  cause  of 
reformation  in  1826  at  Beirut,  Syria.  Two  of  them, 
Bishop  Dionysius  and  Krikor  Vartabed,  like  Paul 
and  Barnabas,  traveled  through  Asia  Minor  preach¬ 
ing  the  Gospel  to  the  people  with  great  acceptance. 


The  Reformed  Church  155 

These  brethren  assured  the  missionaries  that  the 
minds  of  the  Armenian  people  were  wonderfully  in¬ 
clined  towards  the  pure  gospel,  and  that  should 
preachers  go  among  them  doubtless  thousands  would 
be  ready  to  receive  the  truth.  They  themselves  wrote 
letters  to  their  countrymen,  which  excited  no  little 
attention.”  1 

The  publication  and  circulation  of  several  thou¬ 
sand  copies  of  the  Scriptures  and  their  being  eagerly 
read  by  the  leading  men,  the  labors  of  these  and  other 
Armenian  ecclesiastics,  and  especially  the  training 
school  for  priests  at  Constantinople,  which  was  com¬ 
mitted  to  the  charge  of  Peshtimaljian,  “a  profound 
scholar,  a  theologian,  and  an  humble  student  of  the 
Bible — a  sort  of  an  Oriental  Melancthon,  even  in  his 
timidity”  were  indubitable  signs  of  a  wonderful 
reformation. 

Revs.  W.  Goodell  and  Bird  were  appointed  by  the 
board  to  join  the  Syrian  Mission,  which  was  estab¬ 
lished  by  Rev.  Pliny  Fisk  and  Rev.  Levi  Parsons, 
who  had  left  America  in  1819.  On  account  cf  the 
Greek  revolution  then  in  progress,  Christians  every¬ 
where,  and  especially  in  the  seaports,  were  treated 
by  the  Turks  with  the  greatest  barbarity  as  they  are 
now.  Dr.  Goodell  wrote  from  Beirut,  May  15,  1826 : 

“Human  beings,  whose  guilt  is  no  greater  than  that 
of  their  proud  oppressors,  are  condemned  without  a 
trial,  their  flesh  trembling  for  fear,  their  religion 
blasphemed,  their  Saviour  insulted,  their  comforts  de- 

1  Bartlett,  “  Historical  Sketch  of  the  Missions  of  The  American  Board 
in  Turkey,”  p.  3. 


156  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

spoiled,  their  lives  threatened,  and  their  bodies  filled 
with  pain,  and  deeply  marked  with  the  blows  inflicted 
by  Turkish  barbarity.” 

The  condition  of  affairs  compelled  the  American 
and  English  missionaries  and  their  Armenian  assist¬ 
ants  to  repair  for  protection  under  the  British  flag 
to  the  Island  of  Malta.  Here  Dr.  Goodell  and  his 
co-workers  completed  the  translation  of  the  Hew  Tes¬ 
tament  into  the  Armeno-Turkish  in  1830.1 

The  following  year  Dr.  Goodell  was  instructed  by 
the  Board  to  go  to  Constantinople  and  commence  a 
distinct  mission  there  among  the  Armenians.  He 
was  followed  in  due  time  by  the  Revs.  Dwight, 
Schauffer,  Riggs,  Bliss,  Hamlin,  Van  Lennep,  Wood 
and  others.  Their  work  largely  consisted  in  opening 
schools,  translating,  publishing  and  printing  religious 
tracts  and  portions  of  the  Scriptures,  and  holding 
religious  services.  In  the  absence  of  much  reading 
material  in  those  days,  these  tracts,  pamphlets  and 
portions  of  the  Bible  were  eagerly  sought  and  read 
by  the  people,  and  not  without  good  results. 

Indeed,  a  profound  love  for  the  reformation  of 
the  Armenian  Church  had  taken  possession  of  the 
minds  of  many  leading  men  among  the  nation,  who 
were  trying  to  do  all  they  could.  But  both  their 
knowledge  and  their  experience  were  limited;  they 
needed  a  wise  leader  or  leaders  who  could  direct  the 
movement  in  a  way  that  would  accomplish  the  desired 
end.  Some  of  them,  when  they  came  in  contact  with 

1  The  Armeno-Turkish  is  not  a  distinct  language;  it  is  the  Turkish  written 
in  Armenian  characters. 


157 


The  Reformed  Church 

the  missionaries,  thought  Divine  Providence  had  sent 
these  men  to  take  the  lead  of  this  noble  movement. 
They  implicitly  confided  in  the  wisdom  and  ability 
of  the  missionaries  to  do  this.1 

The  wisdom,  magnanimity,  and  the  piety  of  those 
missionaries  were  unquestionable.  They  showed 
their  wisdom  in  the  fact  that  they  “steadily  pursued 
the  policy  of  disseminating  the  truth  without  making 
attacks  upon  the  Armenian  Church.” 

The  silent  influence  of  this  reformation  spread 
far  and  wide  in  the  city  of  Constantinople  and  its 
suburbs.  The  Roman  Church,  through  its  Jesuit 
missionaries,  had  carried  on  the  work  of  proselyting 
the  Armenians  for  centuries,  and  she  had  thousands 
of  adherents.  As  a  Church  she  had  had  her  experi¬ 
ence  with  the  Reformation  in  the  West.  She  was 
alarmed  and  made  the  first  attempt  to  stop  its  prog¬ 
ress  in  the  East.  The  patriarch  of  the  Roman  Cath¬ 
olic  Armenians  publicly  denounced  the  missionaries 
and  their  books  in  1836.  His  evil  example  was  fol¬ 
lowed  four  years  later  by  the  Greek  and  Armenian 
patriarchs  of  Constantinople. 

Thus  the  spirit  of  hatred  and  persecution  was  in¬ 
stilled  by  their  respective  representatives  into  the 
minds  and  hearts  of  different  communities.  But  this 
movement  being  mostly  among  the  Armenians,  their 
patriarch  took  a  more  active  part  in  issuing  anathe¬ 
mas  and  sending  them  to  the  provinces,  and  he  caused 
them  to  be  read  in  all  the  churches. 

l“The  Orientals  have  an  admirable  kind  of  coolness  and  courage.  Give 
them  a  leader  in  whom  they  have  confidence,  and  they  will  follow  him  to 
the  death.” — “Cyrus  Hamlin." 


158  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

The  Armenian  Church  was  sorely  wounded  by  the 
Homan  Church  and  its  missionaries.  The  national 
church  meant  and  still  means  to  the  Armenians  a 
national  unity,  and  a  separation  from  the  Church 
was  considered  a  division  in  the  nation.  Ever  since 
the  Armenians  lost  their  independence,  they  were 
known  as  a  religious  community  in  the  Turkish  em¬ 
pire  and  their  patriarch  as  the  representative  of  the 
whole  people.  The  patriarch,  as  the  head  of  the 
nation,  and  other  leaders,  therefore,  thought  the  sup¬ 
pression  of  this  evangelical  work  might  be  a  preven¬ 
tion  of  such  a  division  as  had  taken  place  in  the  case 
of  the  followers  of  the  Homan  missionaries  in  1830. 
The  patriarch  and  his  advisers,  who  took  violent 
measures  of  persecution  against  those  who  favored 
and  labored  for  the  reformation  of  the  Church,  un¬ 
happily  were  not  aware  of  the  fact  that  the  intentions 
of  the  missionaries  of  the  American  Board,  were 
very  different  from  those  of  the  missionaries  of  the 
Homan  Church.  The  following  is  the  statement 
written  at  the  time  by  Hev.  Dr.  Goodell : 

“We  ourselves,  at  this  place,  have  nothing  to  do  with 
the  Church,  its  dogma,  ceremonies,  and  superstitions. 
.  .  .  Nor  do  we  make  any  attempt  to  establish  a  new 
Church,  to  raise  a  new  party.  We  disclaim  everything 
of  the  kind.  We  tell  them  frankly,  you  have  sects 
enough  among  you  already,  and  we  have  no  design  of 
setting  up  a  new  one,  or  of  pulling  down  your  churches, 
or  drawing  members  from  them  in  order  to  build  ours 

over.” 1 


i  Prime,  “Forty  Years  in  the  Turkish  Empire,”  pp.  173-4. 


The  Reformed  Church 


159 


And  we  find  this  policy  adhered  to  in  the  case  of 
the  brethren  in  Hicomedia.  The  bishop,  priests, 
and  the  leading  men  of  that  city  formed  a  council, 
and  this  council  drew  up  a  new  confession  of  faith. 

“Thus  all  who  were  suspected  of  Protestantism  were 
asked  to  acknowledge  by  affixing  thereunto  their  signa¬ 
tures.  Those  who  would  refuse  to  do  so  were  to  be 
anathematized  and  expelled  from  the  Church.  As  soon 
as  Rev.  Dwight  and  Dr.  Goodell  were  informed  of  the 
Council’s  proceedings  they  advised  the  brethren  not  to 
separate  themselves  from  the  Armenian  communion, 
saying  that,  if  they  did  so,  the  work  would  not  advance 
so  rapidly.”1 

In  1843  a  young  Armenian  embraced  Mohamme¬ 
danism.  But  he  became  a  prey  to  the  remorse  of  his 
conscience  for  his  apostacy.  He,  therefore,  renounced 
Mohammedanism  and  reconfessed  Christianity.  He 
was  seized  upon  and  beheaded  in  the  streets  of  Con¬ 
stantinople  by  the  Turkish  authorities,  and  his  corpse 
was  exposed  to  the  public  gaze  for  several  days,  as 
an  insult  to  Christianity.  This  event  aroused  the 
indignation  of  the  European  ambassadors,  who, 
through  the  English  ambassador,  Sir  Stratford  Can¬ 
ning,  demanded  and  extorted  from  the  Sultan  the 
following  written  pledge:  “The  sublime  Porte  en¬ 
gages  to  take  effectual  measures  to  prevent  hence¬ 
forward  the  execution  and  putting  to  death  of  the 
Christian  who  is  an  apostate.” 

The  imprudent  conduct  of  the  patriarch,  Bishop 
Matteos,  by  his  anathemas  and  excommunicating 

1  Nergararian,  “The  History  of  the  Beginnings  of  Missionary  Work  in 
Nicomedia,”  pp.  20-21. 


160  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

those  who  were  favorably  disposed,  and  were  en¬ 
deavoring  to  reform  the  Church,  exposed  them  to  all 
manner  of  maltreatment.  They  “were  stoned  in  the 
streets,  unjustly  imprisoned,  ejected  from  their  shops, 
invaded  and  plundered  in  their  houses,  bastinadoed 
and  abandoned  by  their  friends.’’  These  persecutions 
were  severe  and  extended  into  the  provinces  wherever 
there  were  those  who  loved  the  cause  of  reformation. 
The  unwise  course  pursued  by  the  patriarch  to  pre¬ 
vent  separation  by  persecution  indeed  hastened  the 
division  in  the  church.  Vartabed  M.  Muradian’s 
statement  in  regard  to  Bishop  Matteos’  conduct  is  as 
follows : 

“Patriarch  Matteos  had  already  begun  religious  con¬ 
troversies  with  the  Protestant  missionaries,  these  same 
controversies  were  travails  of  a  new  eruption.  Those 
inclined  to  Protestantism  were  about  to  appear  and 
the  anathematizing  course  taken  by  Matteos  very  ma¬ 
terially  aided  the  purpose  of  the  Protestant  missionaries, 
because  to  persecute  is  to  spread.  And,  behold,  thus 
on  the  one  hand  the  inconsiderateness  of  those  inclined 
to  Protestantism,  and  on  the  other  hand  the  imprudent 
conduct  of  Patriarch  Matteos,  caused  a  number  of  our 
people  to  depart  from  the  maternal  bosom  of  the  church 
and  adhere  to  Protestantism,  which  forms  a  distinct 
body,  choosing  for  itself  a  separate  civil  head.”  1 

The  persecutions  and  the  consequent  sufferings  of 
the  people  were  severe,  unnecessary,  and  unjustifi¬ 
able.  Yet  whether  there  were  sufficient  reasons  for 
a  separate  organizations  it  is  difficult  to  say.  The 

1  Muradian,  “The  History  of  the  Holy  Apostolic  Church  of  Armenia,” 
pages  607.  8.  (This  work  is  in  the  original  Armenian.) 


The  Reformed  Church 


161 


missionaries,  however,  yielding  to  the  desire  of  those 
who  wished  to  form  a  separate  organization,  gath¬ 
ered  them  together,  forty  in  number,  and  constituted 
July  1st,  1846,  the  first  Evangelical  Armenian 
Church  of  Constantinople.  On  the  following  Sab¬ 
bath  Mr.  Apisoghom  Khachadurian  was  ordained  by 
the  missionaries  and  installed  the  pastor  of  this  new 
church. 

On  the  20th  of  July,  1846,  another  church  was 
organized  at  Nicomedia  and  during  that  summer  two 
more  churches  were  organized,  one  at  Ada-Bazar 
and  the  other  at  Trebizond.  These  organizations 
were  followed  by  others  in  different  parts  of  the 
country. 

The  Protestant  Armenians,  thus  organized  into 
separate  churches,  formed  a  new  community,  yet 
were  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  patriarch  and  up 
to  1847  not  quite  free  from  molestation  and  priva¬ 
tion.  “In  the  temporary  absence  of  Sir  Stratford 
Canning,  Lord  Cawley  negotiated  the  matter  with 
the  government,  and  on  the  15th  of  November,  1847, 
the  grand  vizier  issued  a  paper  declaring  that  the 
‘Christian  subjects  of  the  Ottoman  Government  pro¬ 
fessing  Protestantism  would  constitute  a  separate 
community,  with  all  the  rights  and  privileges  per¬ 
mitted  in  their  temporal  or  spiritual  concern  on  the 
part  of  the  patriarch,  monks,  or  priests  of  other 
sects.’  In  November,  1850,  a  decree  was  issued 
proclaiming  the  professors  of  all  religions  equal  in 
the  eye  of  the  law.  The  Protestants  then  were  or- 


162  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

ganized  as  a  distinct  civil  community,  having  equal 
religious  rights  with  the  older  Christian  bodies. 

Up  to  this  time  the  work  of  reformation  spread 
and  progressed  with  wonderful  rapidity,  though 
through  persecutions  and  privations.  The  readiness 
of  those  who  knew  the  truth  to  spread  it ;  the  eager¬ 
ness  of  the  people  to  receive  the  truth;  the  uncon¬ 
sciously  employed  means  of  those  who  tried  to  stop 
this  movement,  by  trying  so  to  do  thus  spreading  it, 
are  well  condensed  in  the  following  paragraphs: 

“When  the  patriarch  had  hurried  Bedros,  the  Varta- 
bed,  out  of  the  city  for  his  Protestant  tendencies,  and 
Vartabed  had  gone  distributing  books  and  preaching 
throughout  the  whole  region  of  Aleppo  and  Aintab. 
When  he  had  sent  priest  Vartanes  a  prisoner  to  the 
monastery  of  Marash,  and  then  banished  him  to 
Cassarea,  Vartanes  had  first  awakened  the  monks,  and 
then  preached  the  gospel  all  the  way  to  Cassarea. 

“The  missionaries  wisely  availed  themselves  of  this 
rising  interest  in  tours  for  preaching,  conversing,  and 
distributing  religious  treatises.  Messrs.  Powers,  John¬ 
son,  Van  Lennex,  Smith,  Peabody,  Schneider,  Goodell, 
Everett,  and  Benjamin,  pushed  forth  to  Tintab,  Aleppo, 
Brousa,  Harpoot,  Sivas,  Diarbekir,  Cassarea,  and  various 
other  places  through  the  empire. 

“They  soon  found  that  they  were  in  the  midst  of 
one  of  the  most  extraordinary  religious  movements  of 
modern  times,  silent,  and  sometimes  untraceable,  but 
potent  and  pervasive.  In  every  important  town  of  the 
empire  where  there  were  Armenians,  there  were  found 
to  be  as  early  as  1849,  one  or  more  lovers  of  evangelical 
truth.  But  it  was  no  causeless  movement.  The  quiet 
working  of  the  ‘little  leaven’  was  traceable  almost  from 
its  source  by  indubitable  signs.  It  was  a  notable  sight 


163 


The  Reformed  Church 

to  see  when,  in  1838,  the  Vartabed  and  the  leading  men 
of  Orta  Keny,  on  the  Bosphorus,  where  the  missionaries 
first  gained  access  to  the  Armenians,  went  and  removed 
the  pictures  from  the  village  church.  It  was  another 
landmark  when,  in  1842,  the  fervor  of  the  converts 
not  only  filled  the  city  with  rumors  of  the  new  doc¬ 
trines,  but,  after  a  season  of  special  prayer,  held  in  a 
neighboring  valley,  sent  forth  priest  Vartanes  on  a 
missionary  tour  into  the  heart  of  Asia  Minor.  A  still 
more  significant  fact  was  when,  in  that  year  and  the 
next,  the  Armenian  women  were  effectually  reached  and 
roused,  till  family  worship  began  in  many  a  household, 
and  a  female  seminary  at  Per  a  became  (in  1845)  a 
necessity.  The  brethren  had  observed  the  constant  in¬ 
crease  of  the  inquiries,  often  from  a  distance,  and  they 
had  found,  even  in  1843,  such  a  demand  for  their  books 
as  the  press  at  Smyrna  was  unable  to  supply.  In  many 
places  and  at  Nicomedia,  Adabar  and  Aintab,  books  and 
tracts  began  the  work. 

“The  preaching  services  at  Constantinople  would  be 
occasionally  attended  by  individuals  from  four  or  five 
other  towns.  At  Erzroom  one  Sabbath  (February, 
1846),  there  were  attendants  from  six  different  places. 
The  seminary  for  young  men  at  Bebek  (a  suburb  of 
Constantinople)  drew  visitors  from  great  distances  and 
from  all  quarters,  as  far  as  Alexandria,  St.  Petersburg, 
and  the  Euphrates.  The  native  brethren  also  had  been 
engaged  in  disseminating  the  truth,  and  the  first  av/  ak- 
enings  at  Killis,  Kessab,  and  Rodosta,  for  example,  were 
due  to  their  labors. 

“From  this  time  forth  the  enterprise  became  too 
broad  even  to  trace  in  this  rapid  way.  If  the  whole 
movement  shall  ever  be  suitably  recorded  the  history 
of  this  reformation  will  be  second  in  interest  to  no  other 
than  has  ever  been  written.  There  are  scores  and  scores 
of  villages,  each  of  which  would  furnish  material  for  a 


164  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

volume,  and  multitudes  of  cases  that  recall  the  fervor, 
faith,  and  fortitude  of  apostolic  times/’ 1 

Although  a  decree  issued  in  November,  1850,  pro¬ 
claimed  the  Protestants  equal  in  the  eye  of  the  law, 
and  accorded  to  them  protection  from  persecutions, 
yet  the  condition  of  the  brethren  was  very  miserable. 
Many  of  the  younger  brethren  were  disinherited  by 
their  parents,  and  thrown  out  of  employment  by  their 
employers,  for  their  espousal  of  the  cause  of  reforma¬ 
tion.  The  anathemas  of  the  patriarch  upon  “the 
heretics”  and  those  who  would  have  any  dealings  with 
them,  shut  out  the  Protestants  from  the  society  of, 
and  the  business  intercourses  with,  the  people. 
Many,  therefore,  had  to  sell  and  sacrifice  their  prop¬ 
erties  for  the  necessities  of  life,  and  fell  into  abject 
poverty  and  had  almost  reached  the  verge  of  starva¬ 
tion. 

Russia’s  desire  and  demand  to  establish  a  protec¬ 
torate  over  the  Greek  Christians  in  the  Turkish  em¬ 
pire,  and  the  latter  government’s  refusal,  led  these 
two  powers  into,  what  is  generally  known  in  history, 
as  the  Crimean  war.  England  and  France  were  the 
allies  of  the  Turk  in  that  war,  1853.  This  Crimean 
war  also  greatly  added  to  the  misery  of  the  Protestant 
community  and  threatened  the  existence  of  the  little 
flock.  But  the  ingenuity  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Cyrus 
Hamlin,  the  noble  missionary,  did  ameliorate  the  con¬ 
dition  of  the  Protestants.  He  established  industries, 
especially  the  mill  and  bakery,  where  he  found  suf- 

1  Bartlett,  “The  Historical  Sketch  of  Missions  of  A.B.C.F.M.  In  Tur¬ 
key,”  pp.  10-12  and  14. 


The  Reformed  Church 


165 


ficient  work  for  them  to  do ;  he  also  was  able  to  build 
a  few  churches,  m  which  these  brethren  might  wor¬ 
ship.  These  churches  were  greatly  needed,  and  he 
had  some  balance  left  in  hand  after  building  them.1 

Some  good  people  thought  that  “the  Crimean  war 
was  overruled  for  the  furtherance  of  the  Gospel  by 
becoming  the  occasion,  if  not  the  actual  means,  for 
securing  another  concession  from  the  Turkish  gov¬ 
ernment  on  the  subject  of  religious  liberty,  a  new 
Magna  Charter  for  the  Christian  subjects  of  the 
Porte.”  Some  regarded  this  edict  (the  Hatti  Hu- 
mayaun)  as  a  complete  grant  of  freedom  to  all 
Christians  or  Mohammedans,  to  follow  the  dictates 
of  their  consciences  without  any  molestation  what¬ 
ever.  A  few  high-sounding  sentences  from  it  will 
show  what  great  contentment  it  would  have  given  to 
the  subjects  of  the  Porte  if  it  had  been  meant  to  be 
fulfilled : 

“Every  distinction  or  designation  tending  to  make 
any  class  whatever  of  the  subjects  of  my  empire  inferior 
to  another  class  on  account  of  their  religion,  language, 
or  race,  shall  be  forever  effaced  from  the  administrative 
protocol. 

“As  all  forms  of  religion  are  and  shall  be  freely 
professed  in  my  dominions,  no  subject  of  my  empire 
shall  be  hindered  in  the  exercise  of  the  religion  that  he 
professes,  nor  shall  be  in  any  way  annoyed  on  this 
account.  NO  ONE  SHALL  BE  COMPELLED  TO 
CHANGE  HIS  RELIGION  ” 

» Hamlin,  “Among  the  Turks,”  page  258.  “It  had  been  no  object  of 
mine  to  have  any  balance  in  hand.  It  amounted,  with  what  had  already 
been  expended  for  churches  mentioned,  to  $25,000.” 


166  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

It  is,  however,  nothing  uncommon  with  the  sultans 
and  other  officials  of  the  Turkish  government  to 
promise  a  good  deal,  with  the  full  determination  not 
to  fulfill  the  least. 

“By  the  terms  of  the  treaty  of  1856  (signed  at 
Paris),  Turkey  was  bound  in  the  face  of  the  world  to 
redress  the  inveterate  evils  and  abuses  of  her  govern¬ 
ment,  and  to  extend  to  all  her  subjects  the  blessings  of 
civil  and  religious  freedom.  There  wras  accordingly 
promulmated  the  Hatt-y-Humayoun  of  1856,  in  which 
the  principles  of  reform  embodied  in  the  Tanzimat  were 
renewed  and  extended,  but  the  edict,  like  those  which 
preceded  it,  remained  in  effect  null  and  void.  The 
grievances  and  wrongs  endured  since  that  time,  espec¬ 
ially  by  the  Christian  population,  the  perversion  of  jus¬ 
tice,  the  gross  administrative  corruption,  furnish  a  suf¬ 
ficient  commentary  of  the  futility  of  the  attempted  or 
promised  reform  of  the  Porte.”  1 

Had  public  opinion  in  Great  Britain  not  been  out¬ 
raged  by  the  Bulgarian  massacre,  the  Conservative 
government  of  Lord  Beaconsfield  would  have  given 
armed  support  to  the  Turks  even  in  1877,  in  spite 
of  “the  perversion  of  justice,  the  gross  administra¬ 
tive  corruption”  of  the  Turkish  government,  and  “the 
grievances  and  wrongs  endured  since  that  time,  es¬ 
pecially  by  the  Christian  population”  of  the  Porte.2 

The  number  of  the  reformed  churches  in  ten  years 
increased  to  thirty,  organized  at  different  places  in 
the  empire.  And  it  was  only  twenty-one  years  after 
the  organization  of  the  first  Kefcrmed  Armenian 

1  Milner,  "The  Turkish  Empire,"  pp.  223-4. 

2  Bryce,"  Transcaucasia  and  Ararat,”  pp.  519-20,  the  4th  edition. 


The  Reformed  Church 


167 


Church,  that  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  H.  J.  Van  Lennep 
reported,  before  the  Evangelical  Alliance  at  Amster¬ 
dam,  Holland: 

“There  were  now  (1867)  fifty-six  churches,  with  two 
thousand  adherents.”  And  he  adds,  “The  use  of  such 
means  [for  reformation]  soon  produced  a  marked  effect 
not  so  much  upon  the  volatile  Greek  as  upon  the  sober- 
minded  Armenian,  and  evangelical  doctrines  were  soon 
spreading  among  the  latter  with  amazing  power  and 
rapidity.  Providence  raised  from  among  the  people 
men  of  eloquence,  power,  and  influence,  whose  labors 
were  wonderfully  blessed;  and  great  numbers  soon  re¬ 
joiced  in  the  precious  doctrine  ‘Christ  crucified/  The 
young  converts,  full  of  faith  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  went 
about  lighting  the  torch  of  truth  and  salvation  through¬ 
out  the  land.” 

It  is  impossible,  and  incompatible  with  our  present 
purpose,  to  give  a  fuller  account  of  the  grand  work 
of  reformation,  which  is  bound  to  triumph  and  re¬ 
conquer  the  countries  once  under  the  sway  of  the 
power  of  the  gospel  of  our  Lord. 

Twenty-five  years  ago,  there  were  one  hundred  and 
ten  churches  and  eleven  thousand  and  ninety-five 
members,  seventy-four  ordained  ministers  and  one 
hundred  and  twenty-nine  preachers,  and  eighty-five 
other  helpers,  and  two  hundred  and  three  places  for 
stated  preaching,  with  thirty-one  thousand  six  hun¬ 
dred  and  eighteen  average  attendants  to  services, 
twenty  thousand  six  hundred  Sabbath  school  scholars 
and  a  community  of  forty-five  thousand  Protestants, 
who  had  contributed  $48,941  for  all  purposes  during 
the  year  (1890-1891). 


168  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

Within  the  last  twenty-five  years  the  missionary 
work  has  been  steadily  growing  in  spite  of  hin¬ 
drances,  persecutions,  massacres  and  forced  conver¬ 
sions  to  Mohammedanism  by  the  Turks.  The  follow¬ 
ing  brief  table  of  statistics  for  1914  may  give  an  idea 
how  the  work  was  progressing  before  the  terrible  war 
of  1915 : 

The  number  of  stations  and  out  stations .  370 

The  total  number  of  missionaries .  163 

The  total  native  workers .  1304 

Congregations .  273 

Organized  churches  .  137 

Communicants .  13,891 

Armenian  Protestants .  50,900 

Sunday  Schools .  270 

Sunday  School  Membership .  39,686 

Schools  (total)  Colleges,  8;  Theological 

Schools,  3 ;  Boarding,  etc .  426 

Total  students .  35,134 

Hospitals  and  Dispensaries .  19 

Patients . 39,503 

Treatments . . .  134,357 

Native  Contributions . . . . .  $193,137 


CAUSES  OF  PROGRESS,  AND  HINDRANCES 

THE  progress  of  this  wonderful  reformation 
may  be  ascribed  to  a  few  causes  or  agencies. 
1.  THE  BIBLE:  The  Armenian  Church 
not  only  encourages,  but  almost  enforces  the  reading 
of  the  Scriptures  among  the  people.  They  reverence 
the  word  of  God.  When  the  missionaries  came  into 
Armenia  they  found  a  common  ground  on  the  “Thus 
saith  the  Lord”  to  deal  with  the  people  and  the 
clergymen.  The  absolute  necessity  of  the  Bible  as 
the  only  standard  was  felt  by  the  missionaries,  as  our 
forefathers  felt  it  after  the  conversion  of  the  nation 
to  Christianity,  and  the  ablest  intellects  have  been 
engaged  in  its  translation  into  the  vernacular  dia¬ 
lects.  Rev.  Dr.  Goo  dell,  nearly  seventy-five  years 
ago,  wrote  “Turn  now  to  our  labor  among  the  Arme¬ 
nians,  our  whole  work  with  them  is  emphatically  a 
Bible  work.  The  Bible  is  our  only  standard,  and 
our  final  appeal.  It  is  even  more  necessary  for  us 
than  it  was  for  the  reformers  in  England,  because 
we  are  foreigners.  Without  it  we  could  say  one 
thing  and  the  priests  and  bishops  could  say  another ; 
but  where  would  be  the  umpire?  It  would  be  no- 

169 


170  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

where,  and  all  our  efforts  would  be  like  ‘beating  the 
air/  ” 1 

The  British  and  the  American  Bible  Societies 
greatly  aided  the  publication  and  circulation  of  the 
Scriptures  through  their  agents  in  co-operation  with 
the  missionaries  among  the  people  and  in  many  a 
family,  town,  and  city  the  Bible  itself  has  proved 
to  be  the  mightiest  means  of  the  conversion  of  many. 
“The  entrance  of  thy  word  giveth  light.”  “The  law 
of  the  Lord  is  perfect,  converting  the  soul.” 

The  writer’s  father  was  engaged  in  business  in 
Constantinople  over  fifty  years  ago,  and  when  he  re¬ 
turned  home  to  Sivas,  he  brought  with  him  a  copy 
of  the  New  Testament,  which  he  had  bought  from  a 
colporteur.  This  copy  of  the  New  Testament  was 
read  by  him  and  his  sons,  and  the  simple  reading  of 
the  word  of  God  resulted  in  the  conversion  of  the 
writer  and  several  members  of  the  family.  His  only 
sister  was  employed  by  the  missionaries  for  over 
thirty  years  as  a  Bible-woman,  until  her  deportation 
in  1915. 

After  his  conversion  and  study  a  few  years  in  the 
mission  school  at  Marsovan,  it  was  the  privilege  of 
the  writer  to  spend  some  time  in  teaching  in  a  small 
town.  The  Protestant  people,  whose  children  he 
taught,  had  no  preacher  and  they  urged  him  to  preach 
for  them.  Not  ability  nor  preparedness,  hut  neces¬ 
sity,  compelled  him  to  engage  in  this  double  duty. 
One  day  he  was  asked  by  a  man  who  belonged  to  the 
Armenian  church,  and  whose  brother  (deceased  then) 

1Primce,  "Memoirs  of  Rev.  William  Goodell,  D.D.,”  p.  282. 


Causes  of  Progress,  and  Hindrances  171 

was  one  of  the  first  converts  to  Protestantism,  whether 
he  knew  how  the  Protestant  work  began  there.  His 
reply  was  “Ho,”  and  what  the  man  told  him  is  some¬ 
thing  like  the  following: 

The  first  Protestant  brother  who  came  to  the  town 
went  to  a  coffee-house,1  and  took  out  his  Bible  and 
attempted  to  read  it  to  the  men  there ;  but  thev 
refused  to  listen  to  him.  He  was  so  grieved  that  he 
burst  into  tears.  This  attracted  the  attention  of  an 
elderly  man,  well-known  in  the  town  as  “Uncle 
Toros.”  He  came  to  him  and  asked  what  was  the 
matter.  He  answered  that  he  would  like  to  read 
the  Bible  and  speak  to  them  about  the  wonderful 
love  of  God,  but  they  objected  to  his  so  doing.  Uncle 
Toros  was  much  interested  in  the  earnestness  of  the 
man  and  his  plans,  and,  being  very  hospitable,  on 
learning  that  he  was  a  stranger  in  the  town  invited 
him  to  his  own  house.  According  to  the  custom  of 
the  country  everybody  that  is  able  has  a  guest- 
chamber  for  guests.  Uncle  Toros  also  was  a  very 
influential  man  in  the  town  and  he  had  many  friends 
and  relatives,  who  with  the  neighbors  used  to  come 
to  his  sitting-room  and  spend  the  early  part  of  every 
night. 

Thus  our  brother  had  a  good  audience  every  even¬ 
ing  to  whom  he  could  read  and  expound  the  Bible. 
Ho  one  could  insult  or  molest  him — he  was  Uncle 
Toros’  guest.  This  was  the  beginning  of  the  work 
at  Zaraf,  about  thirty  miles  northeast  of  Sivas,  and 

1  The  coffee-houses  in  the  East  are  much  like  the  saloons  in  this  country, 
except  that  no  alcoholic  liquors  are  sold.  People  go  there  to  smoke  and 
flip  coffee  in  small  cups  and  While  the  time  away. 


172  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

when  the  writer  was  there,  nearly  fifteen  years  later, 
he  found  about  twenty  families  composing  the  Prot¬ 
estant  community. 

The  “two-edged  sword”  of  the  Spirit,  “the  Word 
of  God”  on  the  one  hand  and  “the  young  converts, 
full  of  faith  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost”  on  the  other 
hand,  have  been  still  going  about  “lighting  the  torch 
of  truth  and  salvation  throughout  the  land”  and  have 
thus  wrought  this  marvelous  reformation  which  until 
within  a  short  time  has  been  progressing  rapidly. 
The  Turkish  government  is  trying  a  plan,  which  the 
Boman  emperors  tried  in  the  early  Christian  cen¬ 
turies,  namely  to  destroy  the  Christians  and  Chris¬ 
tianity  in  the  empire. 

The  following  instance  combines  three  phases  in 
one,  to  wit:  the  mighty  power  of  the  word  of  God, 
heroism  of  those  who  believe  in  the  power  of  that 
Word  and  the  violation  of  all  promises  of  religious 
freedom,  the  marked  cruelty  and  perversion  of  jus¬ 
tice  of  the  Turkish  officials. 

Avedis  (good  news)  Zotian  was  a  boy  of  ten  or 
twelve  years  of  age  when  the  writer  was  acquainted 
with  him,  over  forty  years  ago.  He  was  quiet,  un¬ 
assuming,  skillful  and  industrious  and  was  engaged 
in  his  father’s  trade,  copper-smithing.  Through  his 
cousin,  who  was  a  constant  reader  of  the  Bible  and 
a  friend  of  the  writer,  and  still  better  a  warm  friend 
of  the  reformation,  Avedis  was  brought  under  the 
influence  of  the  Word  of  God.  He  finally,  about 
1885,  avowed  himself  a  Protestant  and  joined  that 
community.  He  became  very  active,  and,  like  the 


Causes  of  Progress,  and  Hindrances  173 

prophet  Jeremiah,  felt  that  “His  word  was  in  his 
heart  as  a  burning  fire.”  He  had  a  long  distance  to 
go  to  the  services  and  would  not  be  able  to  stop  on 
his  way  and  speak  to  others  on  the  topic  of  religion. 
He,  therefore,  thought  one  Sunday  in  1889  to  have 
a  verse  on  a  piece  of  board  and  to  carry  it  along  so 
that  the  people  could  see  and  read  it.  The  words 
from  Matt.  4:17,  “Repent,  for  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  is  at  hand,”  were  written  in  the  Armenian, 
and  Avedis  had  his  friend  Sahag,  another  Protestant 
Armenian,  to  write  the  same  in  the  Turkish  language. 
Avedis  started  to  church  with  the  above  text.  He 
was  arrested  on  his  way  by  the  Turkish  officers  and 
thrown  into  prison.  His  friend  Sahag  also  was  ar¬ 
rested  for  his  share  of  the  crime  and  shared  the 
corner  of  the  prison  with  Avedis.  The  charge  against 
these  young  men  was  that  they  were  political 
agitators. 

After  several  months’  imprisonment  the  unright¬ 
eous  judge  declared  them  guilty  and  sentenced  them 
to  be  exiled  for  life.  They,  with  tearful  eyes,  bade 
adieu  to  their  friends,  relatives,  brothers,  sisters,  aged 
parents,  and  to  their  newly  married  wives,  who  in 
vain  had  tried  to  wipe  away  their  overflowing  tears. 
They  were  driven  like  cattle  by  the  mounted  officers 
to  Smyrna,  then  sent  to  Africa.  They  were  so  cruelly 
ill-treated  on  their  way  that,  not  very  long  after  their 
exile,  Avedis  was  taken  away  by  his  Heavenly  Father 
to  rest  from  his  labors.  And  what  became  of  Sahag 
no  one  knows.  The  Turkish  government’s  early  de¬ 
termination  to  root  out  the  Christians  and  Chris- 


174  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

tianity  from  the  empire  lacks  no  evidences.  Only 
the  selfish  European  powers,  the  guardians  of  the 
Christian  subjects  of  the  Porte,  were  unwilling  to 
see  them. 

2.  EDUCATION.  Next  in  importance  to  the 
Bible  and  the  activity  of  the  natives  in  spreading  it, 
the  superiority  of  the  educational  institutions  of  the 
mission  and  the  love  for  the  truth  in  the  native  youth 
will  claim  our  attention,  as  potent  factors  in  the 
progress  of  this  reformation. 

Since  the  entrance  of  the  Turks  into  Western  Asia 
the  ancient  centers  of  learning  have  been  lying  in 
ruins;  the  photophobic  malady  of  Mohammedanism 
and  its  fanatic  devotees  had  extinguished  the  numer¬ 
ous  lights  which  have  been  burning  for  centuries  on 
the  altars  of  learning.  These  wild  beasts  of  mankind 
had  broken  in  upon  these  countries,  once  so  glorious 
and  famous  for  their  happy  estate  of  civilization  and 
culture,  who  had  given  religion  and  laws  to  the  world, 
but  now,  through  ignorance,  superstition,  and  vice 
had  become  the  most  deplorable  spectacle  of  extreme 
misery.  The  barbarous  tyrants — the  sultans  of  the 
Ottoman  empire — who  gloried  in  cruelty  and  aimed 
only  at  the  height  of  greatness  through  sensuality, 
had  reduced  so  great  and  goodly  a  part  of  the  world 
to  that  lamentable  distress  and  servitude  under  which 
it  now  faints  and  groans.  “The  true  religion  dis¬ 
countenanced  and  oppressed  (insulted)  ;  no  light  of 
learning  permitted,  nor  virtue  cherished,  violence  and 
rapine  exulting  over  all  and  leaving  no  security,  save 
to  an  abject  mind  and  unlooked-on  poverty.” 


Causes  of  Progress,  and  Hindrances  175 

The  above  description  of  an  eye-witness  was  uttered 
two  centuries  before  the  coming  of  the  missionaries, 
who  have  found  it  literally  true  when  they  came  into 
the  East.  They  also  found  in  this  unhappy  empire 
“a  noble  race” — the  Armenians — “the  Anglo-Saxons 
of  the  East,”  whose  Standard  of  moral  purity  is 
also  said  to  be  immeasurably  above  that  of  the  Turks 
around  them,  and  they  have  a  conscience  which  can 
be  touched  and  roused.”  Their  higher  standard  of 
moral  purity  and  superior  intelligence  are  due  to  their 
religion — Christianity — and  to  their  better  education. 
For  as  far  back  as  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  cen¬ 
tury,  the  Armenian  press  was  in  full  activity  in  Con¬ 
stantinople. 

It  was  no  wonder  that  the  Armenians  had  wel¬ 
comed  the  missionaries  and  had  they  been  left  alone 
they  would  not  have  attempted  to  prevent  the  work 
of  reformation  at  all. 

‘‘When  the  missionaries  came  to  Turkey  they  were 
kindly  received  by  the  patriarch  and  clergymen,  who 
showed  great  hospitality  and  favor  to  them,  and  en¬ 
couraged  them  to  build  up  schools,  which  they  promised 
to  support  by  sending  their  young  men  and  priests  to 
be  educated.  But  afterwards  the  Jesuits,  who  are  ever 
the  uncompromising  enemies  of  Protestantism,  secretly 
stirred  up  the  Armenian  and  Greek  leaders  against  the 
missionaries  and  their  work,  whom  they  now  began  to 
regard  with  suspicion  and  envy.  Even  among  the  Arme¬ 
nian  priests  and  college-men  were  those  who,  though 
they  at  first  persecuted  the  Protestants,  became  not  only 
their  stanchest  friends,  but  also  earnest  workers  for  the 
cause  of  Christ.” 


176  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

The  above  quotation  from  a  native  writer  is  well 
supported  by  the  following  statement  of  an  American 
writer,  a  returned  missionary  of  the  American 
Board : 

“In  1834  these  schools  had  two  thousand  scholars, 
and  though  supported  by  the  people,  yet,  having  been 
established  by  the  advice  and  assistance  of  the  mission, 
their  influence  was  great  in  its  favor,  till  the  monks 
and  priests  began  to  preach  violently  against  the  mission 
and  schools,  ' and  even  against  the  'patriarch  for  favor¬ 
ing  them!  But  it  was  too  late  to  destroy  their  influence. 
The  Armenians  had  become  roused  by  the  spreading 
light,”  and  “in  1835  the  revival  of  learning  and  piety 
among  the  Armenians  continued  to  advance  hand  in 
hand.” 1 

The  Seminary  at  Bebek  in  1840  commenced  with 
three  scholars.  The  following  year  the  number  of 
the  students  had  increased  to  twenty-four,  and  many 
had  been  refused  for  want  of  funds.  A  few  years 
later  a  female  seminary  was  started  at  Pera,  Con¬ 
stantinople,  and  this  had  a  wonderful  effect  upon  the 
community.  Education  of  the  female,  neglected  for 
centuries,  began  to  revive  in  the  East,  even  the  adult 
women  and  matrons  attempted  to  learn  to  read  their 
Bibles  and  they  generally  succeeded  well.  “Fifty 
adult  females  have  begun  to  learn  to  read  during  the 
year;  more  than  fifty  have  already  learned  to  read 
well,  and  many  others  are  in  the  process  of  learning.” 
Wherever  the  missionaries  went  there  they  started 
schools,  and  these  schools  were  not  only  the  centers 

i Wilder,  “Mission  Schools  of  the  A.B.C.F.M.,”  p.  375. 


I 


Causes  of  Progress,  and  Hindrances  177 

irom  which  the  light  of  truth  radiated  around,  but 
they  also  became  in  many  places  nuclei  for  new 
churches. 

The  Bebek  Seminary,  in  1854,  reported  its  number 
of  students  as  fifty,  and  “its  former  pupils  are  em¬ 
ployed  as  preachers,  teachers,  translators,  and  helpers 
in  many  places.”  In  the  following  year  the  demand 
for  teachers  and  preachers  from  the  seminary  was  so 
great  that  other  schools  were  started — one  at  Tokat, 
and  another  at  Aintab.  The  number  of  free  schools 
had  increased  this  year  (1855)  to  thirty-eight,  and 
the  whole  number  of  pupils  nine  hundred  and  sixty. 

It  was  in  the  same  year  that  the  American  Board 
sent  the  Bev.  Dr.  Anderson  and  Thompson  to  India 
and  Turkey.  In  the  previous  year  the  Baptist  Mis¬ 
sionary  Society  also  had  sent  its  deputation  to  India. 
“The  result  of  these  delegations  was  that  the  char¬ 
acter  of  the  education  of  nearly  all  the  missionary 
institutions  of  the  highest  grade  was  wholly  changed. 
The  English  language  was  proscribed  and  the  cur¬ 
riculum  of  studies  reduced  to  a  vernacular  basis. 
Many  schools  were  closed  and  some  missionaries  came 
home,  and  considerable  friction  was  occasioned,  hut 
the  new  system  was  rigidly  enforced.”  1 

Dr.  Cyrus  Hamlin,  Dr.  H.  J.  Van  Lennep,  and 
some  other  missionaries  advocated  the  importance  of 
a  thorough  education  and  the  knowledge  of  the  Eng¬ 
lish  language  for  the  native  ministry,  believing  that 
“no  country  was  ever  reformed  but  by  its  sons,  and 
that  for  such  a  great  work  a  better  education  IS 


*  Hamlin,  “Among  the  Turks,”  p.  275. 


178  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

necessary.”  They,  however,  met  not  a  little  oppo¬ 
sition  from  the  Board  and  some  of  their  associates 
in  the  mission. 

“The  American  Board’s  change  of  base  on  the  mat¬ 
ter  of  education”  furnished  an  occasion — for  some 
trouble  in  the  field — for  some  Armenian  young  men 
who  sought  a  better  education  abroad.  But  their 
aspiring  and  venturing  into  England  and  America 
for  a  thorough  English  education,  subjected  them  to 
opposition,  from  some  of  the  missionaries,  and  after¬ 
wards,  when  they  attempted  to  secure  employment 
in  the  mission-fields,  they  met  discouragement  and 
disappointment.  Even  as  late  as  in  1880  Dr.  Ham¬ 
lin,  advocating  his  position,  wrote: 

“Every  young  man  who  started  with  a  good  founda¬ 
tion  of  English,  and  of  character,  has  done  well.  I 
recall  at  this  moment  five  such  cases:  (1)  Alexan  Bez- 
jian,  now  professor  in  Aintab  College;  (2)  Alexander 
Djijisian,  who  spent  one  or  two  years  in  Edinburgh, 
now  pastor  at  Ada  Bazar.  He  is  a  noble  and  strong 
man  in  judgment  and  power  of  argument,  in  true  in¬ 
sight,  in  theological  training  and  as  a  preacher,  the 
supervisor  of  many  a  missionary;  (3)  The  late  Broasa 
pastor,  now  head  of  the  High  School,  who  studied  at 
Basle.  Ho  one  will  dare  to  impugn  his  character  and 
ability;  (4)  Pastor  Kerope,  like  the  others,  a  Bebek 
Seminary  student.  He  went  to  England  and  Mr.  Farns¬ 
worth,  instead  of  opposing  him,  had  the  grace  to  aid 
him.  He  made  a  good  impression  in  England  and 
obtained  aid  to  build  a  church;  Mr.  Farnsworth  pro¬ 
nounced  it  the  best  church  that  has  been  erected  among 
the  Protestants  in  Turkey;  (5)  Pastor  Thomas,  of 
Diarbekir.  I  do  not  know  of  a  man  who  speaks  the 


Causes  of  Progress,  and  Hindrances  179 

Armenian  language  who  is  his  equal  for  a  platform 
speech.  He  carries  his  audience  with  him.  He  is  clear 
and  logical.  He  lifts  his  audience  to  higher  planes  of 
principle,  thought  and  feeling.” 

The  late  Rev.  Dr.  Tracy,  a  former  teacher  of  the 
writer  and  the  ex-president  of  Anatolia  College,  Mar- 
savan,  wrote  in  1904: 

“During  the  prosecution  of  this  [mission]  work  in 
the  Turkish  Empire,  wise  attention  has  been  given  all 
along  to  the  education  of  the  young,  both  in  the  common 
branches  with  reference  to  good  and  intelligent  social 
and  family  Christian  life;  and  in  the  more  advanced, 
with  reference  to  the  Christian  leadership  so  vitally 
important  in  the  development  of  a  community.  That 
this  principle,  discerned  by  our  own  American  fore¬ 
fathers,  as  a  corner  stone  in  our  national  structure,  is 
just  as  applicable  to  and  important  in  the  building  of 
Christian  communities  in  mission  lands  as  at  home, 
has  dawned  at  last  upon  the  minds  of  all  who  seriously 
prosecute  this  foreign  work.  The  position  which  Chris¬ 
tian  education  has  taken  in  missions  is  impregnably 
strong.  Not  only  does  such  education  improve,  inform, 
enable  young  men  and  young  women,  but  it  finds  out 
the  able  and  gathers  up  the  natural  leaders;  it  not 
only  educates,  but  makes  educators.  It  is  a  means  with¬ 
out  which  no  Christian  country,  community,  or  enter¬ 
prise  has  ever  held  permanent  leadership,  or  ever  can. 
The  day  of  light  is  advancing  in  the  East  with  the  rise 
of  the  Christian  colleges. 

“Very  great  and  far-reaching  was  the  influence  of 
that  school  established  in  early  times  by  Cyrus  Hamlin 
in  the  village  of  Bebek,  on  the  Bosphorus.  The  first 
venture,  though  so  small  a  craft  compared  with  what 
has  followed,  made  the  wake  for  a  whole  fleet  of  mighty 
vessels  coming  after — Robert  College  at  Constantinople, 


180  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

the  Syrian  Protestant  College  at  Beirut,  the  Central 
Turkey  College  at  Aintab,  Euphrates  College  at  Har- 
poot,  Anadolia  College  at  Marsovan,  the  American  Col¬ 
lege  for  Girls  at  Sculari,  the  Institute  at  Samakov  in 
Bulgaria,  St.  Paul’s  Institute  at  Tarsus,  the  Interna¬ 
tional  College  at  Smyrna,  with  leading  schools  for  girls 
in  the  interior  like  those  at  Marash,  Marsovan  (Sivas 
Girls’  High  School,  and  Sivas  Teachers’  College,  etc.), 
and  elsewhere.  Another  most  important  class  of  insti¬ 
tutions  took  its  rise  from  the  same  fountain — the  theo¬ 
logical  seminaries  at  Marash,  Marsovan,  Harpoot,  with¬ 
out  which  the  others  would  hardly  have  come  into  ex¬ 
istence.  They  introduced  the  gospel  widely  and  educa¬ 
tional  progress  followed.  Here  we  have  a  dozen  or  more 
institutions  which  are  the  leaders  of  thought  and  makers 
of  character  in  the  empire.”  1 

With  one  or  two  exceptions  these  colleges  and  high 
schools  are,  or  were,  crowded  by  the  Armenian  boys 
and  girls:  Sivas  Teachers’  College — “This  College 
has  occupied  a  unique  position  in  its  training  teachers 
for  important  positions  in  the  mission  and  in  the 
government  schools.  During  the  last  year  (1914) 
there  were  more  pupils  than  at  any  time  in  the  past. 
The  exact  figures  are  not  obtainable,  but  the  total 
enrollment  for  the  previous  year  was  over  500.”2 

St.  Paul’s  College,  Tarsus — “The  enrollment  was 
the  largest  recorded:  in  the  College  118,  academy 
142 ;  total,  260.  Of  these,  thirty-five  were  Moslems, 
the  greatest  in  the  history  of  the  school.  Nearly  two 
hundred  were  Armenians,  but  Greeks,  Turks,  Arabs, 
Syrians,  were  represented  in  the  student  body.”2 

1  Tracy,  “Historical  Sketch  of  Missions  in  Asiatic  Turkey,"  pp.  20-21, 
(A.B.C.F.M.) 

*  The  Annual  Report  of  the  American  Board,  pp.  100,  105,  for  year  1915. 


Causes  of  Progress,  and  Hindrances  181 

Before  the  spring  of  1915  twenty-five  thousand  and 
one  hundred  and  thirty-four  pupils  were  attending 
and  receiving  Christian  training  from  the  kindergar¬ 
ten  schools  up  to  the  highest  colleges  in  the  land.1 

3.  THE  CHRISTIAN  LITERATURE ;  another 
cause  of  progress  of  the  reformed  and  evangelical 
work  was  and  is  the  necessity  of  a  Christian  litera¬ 
ture.  It  has  been  stated  that  the  Armenian  litera¬ 
ture  is  largely  of  religious  and  Christian  character, 
but  the  most  and  best  of  it  is  in  the  ancient  Arme¬ 
nian  language.  After  the  translation  of  the  Bible 
into  the  modern  Armenian  a  new  literature  in  the 
same  was  necessitated.  This  necessity  was  gradually 
being  met  until  the  war  broke  out.  “THE  AVE- 
DAPER — an  Armenian  paper,  published  in  weekly 
and  monthly  editions.  It  was  the  most  attractively 
printed  Armenian  paper  in  the  empire.  It  is  under 
efficient  Armenian  management.  There  was  an  en¬ 
couraging  increase  in  subscriptions  until  the  war  con¬ 
ditions  interfered  with  the  mails  and  returns  fell  off. 
It  was  finally  decided  to  discontinue  the  paper  for 
the  present.772  Within  the  last  fifty  or  sixty  years 
a  goodly  number  of  useful  books  have  been  written 
and  translated  into  the  modern  Armenian  language; 
such  as  school  books,  commentaries,  Sunday  School 
lesson  helps,  dictionaries,  religious  treatises,  hymn 
books — “whatever  is  most  necessary  for  the  healthy 
nourishment  of  awakening  minds  in  the  families,  the 

1  The  Armenian  common  and  high  schools — beside  the  Mission  insti¬ 
tutions — were  many,  but  Abdul  Hamid  had  reduced  them.  Since  his 
overthrow  they  were  again  flourishing  before  the  war. 

3  The  Annual  Report  of  the  American  Board,  pp.  103,  107  for  year  1915. 


182  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

schools,  the  communities  is  published,  but  with  sad 
insufficiency.” 

“The  mission  pi*ess  is  connected  with  Central 
Turkey  College  (at  Aintab).  Some  of  the  students 
are  given  aid  in  the  printing  department  and  in  the 
book  bindery.  Besides  the  regular  job  work  the  press 
prints  a  monthly  religious  paper  in  Armeno-Turkish 
(Armenian  letter  in  Turkish  language)  called  the 
New  Life.  No  figures  are  at  hand  for  the  total 
output,  but  the  usual  number  of  pages  printed 
exceeds  700,000.”  1  If  this  terrible  war  had  not 
interfered  with  the  missionary  work,  the  annual  out¬ 
put  would  have  been  between  nine  and  ten  million 
pages  of  print. 

4.  THE  MEDICAL  WOBK.  The  last  but  not 
the  least  of  the  causes  of  the  progress  of  the  evan¬ 
gelical  work  in  the  East  is  the  medical  work  or  the 
hospitals.  Before  the  coming  of  the  missionaries 
into  the  East,  and  the  medical  missionaries  following 
them,  there  were  some  native  physicians,  mostly 
Armenians,  in  the  country.  But  their  knowledge  of 
the  art  of  healing  must  naturally  have  been  in  a 
crude  state.  It  is  no  wonder  when  we  remember  the 
fact,  that  though  the  East,  especially  Western  Asia, 
has  been  the  seat  of  ancient  learning,  yet  it  has  been 
for  over  five  hundred  years  under  the  rule  of  the 
tyrants,  the  sultans,  who  delighted  more  in  injustice, 
cruelty,  and  sensuality  than  in  learning.  So  the 
reflex  light  of  the  Sun  of  righteousness  from  the  West 
brought  also  healings  in  His  wings. 

1  The  Annual  Report  of  the  American  Board,  pp.  103-107  for  the  year 
1915. 


Causes  of  Progress,  and  Hindrances  183 

Some  churches  and  missionary  organizations  have 
been  slow  to  learn  the  meaning  of  Christ  when  He 
“sent  them  (His  disciples)  to  preach  the  Kingdom 
of  God  and  heal  the  sick.”  (Lnke  ix:  2.) 

“Regular  medical  departments,  with  hospitals,  are  of 
late  growth.  In  view  of  the  healing  mercy  and  saving 
power  exerted  through  them,  it  now  seems  strange  that 
their  development  should  have  been  so  belated.  When, 
however,  it  is  remembered  that  in  missions  almost  every¬ 
thing  in  the  way  of  means  and  measures  is  experimental 
it  is  not  so  strange  that  among  the  forces  born  into 
life  and  action  the  'noblest  offspring’  should  'be  the 
last.’  ”1 

Before  the  war  there  were  fifteen  missionary 
stations  in  Asiatic  Turkey.  Kine  of  these  stations 
had  medical  departments  with  hospitals  connected 
with  them;  39,503  patients  have  been  treated  in  these 
hospitals  and  the  total  number  of  treatments  during 
the  year  of  1914  reached  134,357.  This  is  a  tre¬ 
mendous  power  for  good  and  a  marvelous  blessing 
for  a  country  like  Turkey,  yet  the  rulers  of  that  un¬ 
happy  country  have  been  destitute  of  any  sense  of 
justice  or  gratitude,  as  the  following,  a  few  sentences 
from  Dr.  Barton’s  letter  to  the  writer,  show: 

Congregational  House,  14  Beacon  St., 

Boston,  Mass., 

July  20,  1916. 

My  Dear  Dr.  Gabrielian  : 

You  ask  with  reference  to  the  situation  in  Turkey. 
We  have  but  very  little  definite  information.  Our  mis¬ 
sionaries  of  Mar  so  van  have  just  come  out  under  com- 

1  Tracy,  "Historical  Sketch  of  the  Missions  in  Asiatic  Turkey,”  p.  34. 


184  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

pulsion  by  the  Turkish  Government  and  all  of  the 
mission  property  in  Marsoval  is  in  the  hands  of  the 
Government ;  also  the  same  is  true  of  Sivas,  except  that 
Miss  Graff  am  and  Miss  Fowle  were  allowed  to  remain, 
and  in  Talas  they  have  taken  possession  of  the  public 
buildings,  but  the  missionaries  at  last  reports  were  there, 
hoping  to  be  allowed  to  remain.  .  .  . 

Very  faithfully  yours, 

James  L.  Barton. 

One  of  the  hindrances  to  the  work  of  still  greater 
progress  of  reformation  was,  and  is,  the  poverty 
of  the  Protestant  community.  The  condition  of 
the  Protestant  Armenians  was  very  much  like  that  of 
a  young  man  falling  in  love  with  a  pure,  virtuous, 
and  noble  yet  poor  girl.  The  rash  youth,  disregard¬ 
ing  the  opposition  of  his  parents,  married  the  woman 
he  loved,  and  on  account  of  this  he  has  been  disin¬ 
herited.  Those  who  espoused  the  cause  of  reforma¬ 
tion  were  driven  out,  not  only  from  their  homes  and 
employments,  but  also  from  the  use  of  the  churches 
and  school-houses,  and  even  were  not  allowed  to  bury 
their  dead  in  the  old  cemeteries.  It  was  not  very 
difficult  for  the  American  Board  to  meet  some  of  the 
needs  of  the  Protestant  community,  while  that  com¬ 
munity  was  small  and  its  needs  few.  But  by  the 
increase  of  the  community  its  needs  also  multiplied. 
However,  knowing  the  people  as  we  do,  their  poverty 
was  not  a  great  hindrance.  For  the  generous  poor 
man  is  richer  than  the  rich  miser. 

“Many  a  poor  Armenian  in  the  Koodish  mountains, 
many  a  tattered  villager  on  the  Harpoot  plains,  used 
to  the  suffering  of  robbery  and  inured  to  want,  brings 


Causes  of  Progress,  and  Hindrances  185 

for  the  support  and  propagation  of  the  gospel  his  poor 
pittance,  more  munificent,  measured  by  the  sacrificing 
devotion  of  it,  than  the  gifts  of  princes  sounding  aloud 
as  they  fall  into  the  treasury.  In  other  parts  of  the 
country  there  are  those  so  humble  that  the  dwelling  of 
the  family  would  hardly  be  valued  at  $25,  who  yet  bring 
$25  to  help  build  the  house  of  worship,  where  they  and 
their  poor  neighbors  may  hear  the  sound  of  the  gospel. 

The  most  prolific  source  of  all  evil  influences  and 
hindrances  against  the  progress  of  reformation  in  the 
East  is  the  Mohammedan  Government.  Prof.  Vam- 
bery’s  words  might  have  been  heeded  twenty-five  or 
thirty  years  ago,  and  many  hundred  thousands  oi 
lives  would  have  been  saved: 

“The  conviction  is  inevitable  that  until  the  power  of 
Islamism  is  broken  the  true  reformation  of  this  land 
is  an  impossibility.  At  whose  door  shall  we  lay  the 
blame  of  cherishing  such  a  viper  ?  That  the  solution 
of  the  vexed  question  of  the  political  status  of  Turkey 
involves  great  difficulties  cannot  be  denied.  But  those 
[the  European  powers]  that  are  pleased  to  preserve  the 
existing  state  of  things,  as  a  barrier  for  themselves 
against  the  encroachments  of  an  already  overgrown 
European  power,  ought  to  take  into  consideration  the 
result  of  encouraging  the  continuance  of  a  power  at  ome 
so  poisonous  and  so  suicidal  as  that  of  the  waning 

crescent.” 

i  Tracy,  “The  Historical  Sketch  of  the  Missions  in  Asiatic  Turkey, 
page  16. 


XI 

THE  ARMENIAN  QUESTION 

THE  previous  brief  history  of  this  people, 
especially  since  the  introduction  of  Chris¬ 
tianity  into  Armenia,  has  furnished  the 
reader  with  sufficient  facts  to  show  him  that  the  real 
trouble  of  this  nation  began  from  the  time  of  its 
conversion  to  Christianity,  and  has  come  down  to  the 
present  time. 

What  the  Armenians  have  been  suffering  now  is 
just  a  little  more  intensified  than  what  they  have 
suffered  in  the  past  by  the  hands  of  the  fire-worship- 
ing  Persians.  Had  they  received  Zoroastrianism, 
forced  upon  them  in  the  fifth  century,  they  might 
have  changed  the  entire  aspect  of  the  history  of  West¬ 
ern  Asia.  Or,  had  they  embraced  Mohammedanism 
in  the  seventh  century,  when  fanatic  missionary  sol¬ 
diers  of  Mohammed  fell  upon  them,  sword  in  hand, 
and  massacred  thousands  upon  thousands  in  cold 
blood,  because  they  refused  to  accept  the  sensual 
religion  of  a  sensual  and  bloody  man,  again  the  his¬ 
tory  of  Western  Asia  might  have  been  differently 
written. 

When  their  infant  sons  were  torn  away  from  their 
parental  bosom  by  the  Ottoman  rulers,  and  reared 

186 


The  Armenian  Question  187 

in  Islamism  and  inured  to  the  profession  of  arms, 
whose  skill,  vigor,  and  courage  shook  the  foundations 
of  the  then  civilized  world,  then,  we  say,  had  the  Ar¬ 
menians  renounced  their  religion  and  professed  the 
Mohammedan  faith  and  entered  the  army,  they  would 
have  brought  “to  bear  on  the  problems  of  the  battle¬ 
field  all  the  subtlety  of  intellect  developed  by  ages 
of  mental  activity/’  unquestionably  would  they  have 
saved  the  Turkish  Empire  from  the  inevitable  dis¬ 
solution  into  which  she  has  plunged  herself.  This 
also  would  have  undoubtedly  given  a  different  feature 
to  the  Ottoman  history. 

Why  have  the  Armenians  been  so  cruelly  perse¬ 
cuted,  oppressed,  tortured  and  butchered  ?  Why  were 
their  beautiful  daughters  abducted,  their  wives  rav¬ 
ished,  they  themselves  massacred  by  the  Kurds,  Cir¬ 
cassians,  and  Turks?  dSTot  because  they  belong  to  a 
different  nationality— though  they  do— but  because 
they  belong  to  a  different  religion — they  are  Chris¬ 
tians.  So  I  beg  the  reader  to  bear  in  mind  that  the 
real  trouble  or  the  Armenian  question,  at  the  bottom, 
is  the  old  conflict,  first  between  Christianity  and 
Paganism,  then  between  Christianity  and  Moham¬ 
medanism,  and  now  with  Pagan-Mohammedanism. 

The  Turkish  government  found  a  convenient  ex¬ 
cuse  for  persecuting  Christian  Armenians  under  the 
garb  of  suppressing  a  revolutionary  movement.  But 
this  movement  was  of  a  very  recent  origin,  and  alto¬ 
gether  “harmless  as  to  any  effective  force.”  The 
Turkish  misrule  in  Armenia,  and  in  all  parts  of  the 
Ottoman  empire,  persecutions,  confiscations  of  prop- 


188  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

erty,  forcible  conversions  to  Islam,  imprisonments, 
exiles,  and  massacres,  have  begun  since  the  entrance 
of  the  Turks  into  Western  Asia;  at  times  they  have 
been  intensified ;  they  are  now  at  their  height. 

“Tears  of  Armenia”  was  the  title  of  a  little  book 
which  contained  the  report  of  Vartabed  Paul  Na- 
thanian,  who  was  appointed  in  1878  by  Bishop 
Nerses,  the  patriarch,  and  the  civic  and  ecclesiastical 
councils  of  Constantinople,  to  take  charge  of  the  dio¬ 
cese  of  Palu  in  Armenia.  While  there,  this  noble 
prelate,  following  the  example  of  the  Good  Shep¬ 
herd,  traveled  through  the  country,  visited  his  flock, 
and  reported  the  condition  of  the  people.  His  report 
was  published.  With  great  propriety  he  begins  the 
preface  in  the  following  manner :  “Tears  and  misery, 
behold,  these  two  painful  words  are  chosen  for  the 
theme  of  this  present  work,  of  which  with  an  aching 
heart  will  I  speak,  and  still  more  painful  it  is,  that 
the  esteemed  reader  will  hear  undeniable  truths.” 

The  facts  recorded  in  this  pamphlet  are  too  painful 
to  be  translated  into  the  English  language.  The 
crimes  of  the  Kurds  and  the  injustice  and  cruelty  of 
the  government’s  officers  perpetrated  upon  the  Chris¬ 
tian  Armenians  run  from  the  simplest  forms  of  rob¬ 
bery  and  cruelty  to  the  vilest  forms  of  abduction, 
assault,  outrage,  torture,  and  murder. 

The  report  of  this  venerable  Vartabed  Nathanian 
was  only  the  confirmation  and  verification  of  the 
oppressed  condition  of  the  Armenians  in  the  interior, 
more  or  less  known  before.  Eor,  when,  in  the  autumn 
of  1876,  the  European  powers  sent  their  represent  a- 


The  Armenian  Question  189 

tives  to  meet  at  Constantinople  to  consider  the  cruel¬ 
ties  of  the  Turkish  government,  the  massacre  of  the 
Bulgarians  and  other  disturbances  in  the  empire, 
Bishop  Nerses  attempted  then  to  draw  attention  to 
the  condition  of  the  Armenians.  But  his  efforts  were 
fruitless,  as  the  conference  itself  was  futile ;  a  peace¬ 
ful  adjustment  of  the  differences  was  not  agreed  upon. 
The  Russo-Turkish  war  consequently  broke  out. 
Again  Armenia  had  to  furnish  the  battle-field  for 
these  two  formidable  combatant  nations  in  Asia. 

Russia  was  apparently  fighting  for  the  oppressed 
Christians.  The  Turks  were  called  upon  to  combat 
with  a  Christian  nation,  which  was  fighting  as  the 
champion  of  the  Christian  subjects  of  the  Ottoman 
government.  The  officials  of  the  government  well 
may  say:  what  do  we  care  for  these  wretched  Chris¬ 
tians  who  are  a  constant  source  of  trouble  to  us? 
The  ignorant  Turkish  soldiers  and  the  baslii-bazouksS 
Circassians  and  Kurds  were  incapable  of  knowing  the 
difference  between  an  Armenian  and  a  Russian,  be¬ 
tween  a  Greek  and  a  Bulgarian,  it  was  enough  that 
all  of  them  went  under  the  name  “Christian.”  It 
was  their  frequent  utterance,  “ Ghiaurlari  Tcesmeli, 
the  infidels  must  be  killed.”  Even  when  the  gov¬ 
ernment  had  no  war  whatever  there  was  no  safety 
for  the  Christian;  how  much  less  could  any  tran¬ 
quillity  now  be  expected.  The  mountains  especially 
were  infested  by  those  who  deserted  the  army,  and 
the  highway  robbers  were  at  the  fullest  exercise  of 
their  predatory  powers. 

1  Literally,  “Loose-headed,”  in  the  sense  of  undisciplined  volunteers. 


190  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

Who  suffered  the  worst,  served  the  most,  and  re¬ 
ceived  nothing  in  Asiatic  Turkey  ?  The  Armenians. 
The  Turkish  troops,  by  all  means,  would  avoid  on 
their  way  to  the  battle-field  lodging  at  a  Turkish, 
hut  always  at  an  Armenian  village,  where  even  the 
most  insignificant  soldier  was  a  despot.  He  must 
have  everything  he  wished  for  nothing,  and  not  de¬ 
part  in  peace,  but  give  some  trouble  to  his  Christian 
host.  The  writer,  who  was  not  very  far  from  the 
battle-field,  being  on  the  main  road  leading  to  it, 
has  seen  these  things  with  his  own  eyes.  He  may, 
therefore,  say  with  perfect  truthfulness,  that  these 
soldiers  did  not  leave  out  from  the  category  of  their 
deeds  anything  evil,  but  the  good  only. 

“Turkey  bears  a  striking  resemblance  to  the  infernal 
regions,  which  good  George  Herbert  said  are  paved  with 
broken  promises;  her  conduct  in  this  war  has  been 
marked  by  the  vilest  crimes  of  which  a  nation  can  be 
guilty.  She  has  not  only  committed  the  crime  of  arm¬ 
ing  and  letting  loose  bands  of  undisciplined,  fanatic 
robbers,  whose  passions,  fed  by  the  religious  exhortations 
of  their  bigoted  priest,  and  strengthened  by  the  proc¬ 
lamation  of  the  Sheikh-ul-Islam,  have  led,  as  the  Porte 
knew  full  well  and  firmly  intended  that  they  should 
lead ,  to  the  brutal  massacre  of  the  survivors  of  the  Bul¬ 
garian  rebellion  and  the  cold  blooded  murders  of  the 
inoffensive  Christians  in  Armenia ” 1 

The  fearful  consequence  of  this  war  was  the  igno¬ 
minious  defeat  of  Turkey,  and  her  readiness  to  come 
to  terms  with  Russia  whose  armies  were  almost  at 
the  gates  of  Constantinople.  So  the  representatives 

1  Norman,  “Armenia  and  the  Campaign  of  1877,”  p.  372. 


The  Armenian  Question  191 

of  these  two  combatant  powers  met  at  San  Stefano, 
in  March,  1878,  and  drew  out  the  treaty  which  hears 
the  name  of  the  place.  The  16th  article  of  this 
Treaty  was  suggested  and  by  the  earnest  solicitation 
of  the  patriarch  and  the  leading  Armenians  of  Con¬ 
stantinople,  the  Russian  representative  inserted  the 
article  for  the  express  purpose  of  securing  the  pro¬ 
tection  of  the  Armenians.  This  article  runs:  “As 
the  evacuation  by  the  Russian  troops  of  the  territory 
which  they  occupy  in  Armenia,  and  which  is  to  be 
restored  to  Turkey,  might  give  rise  to  conflicts  and 
complications  detrimental  to  the  maintenance  of  good 
relations  between  the  two  countries,  the  sublime  Porte 
engages  to  carry  into  effect,  without  further  delay, 
the  improvements  and  reforms  demanded  by  local 
requirements  in  the  provinces  inhabited  by  Arme¬ 
nians,  and  to  guarantee  their  security  from  Kurds 
and  Circassians.” 

It  is  the  opinion  of  some  of  the  best  Englishmen, 
that  had  the  conservative  government  of  England 
let  the  Treaty  of  San  Stefano  stand,  Russia  would 
have  forced  the  Turkish  government  to  fulfill  her 
promises  of  reform  in  Armenia.  But  England  upset 
and  made  it  of  non-effect  by  her  interference  merely 
for  selfish  ends.  She  negotiated  with  Turkey  through 
the  Cyprus  convention  of  June,  1878.  The  follow¬ 
ing  is  the  first  article  of  this  Anglo-Turkish  conven¬ 
tion:  “His  Imperial  Majesty,  the  Sultan,  promises 
to  England  to  introduce  necessary  reforms,  to  be 
agreed  upon  later  between  the  two  powers,  into  the 
government  and  for  the  protection  of  the  Christian 


192  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

and  other  subjects  of  the  Porte  in  these  territories 
[Armenia],  and  in  order  to  enable  England  to  make 
necessary  provision  for  executing  her  engagement 
(keeping  Russia  out  of  Armenia),  His  Imperial 
Majesty,  the  Sultan,  further  consents  to  assign  the 
Island  of  Cyprus  to  be  occupied  and  administered  by 
England.” 

The  Anglo-Turkish  Convention  of  Cyprus  was  a 
dagger  thrust  by  a  friend  into  the  heart  of  Armenia ; 
it  may  have  been  done  unwittingly,  yet  Armenia  has 
been  bleeding  ever  since. 

In  the  following  month,  July,  1878,  the  Congress 
of  the  Great  Powers  met  in  Berlin,  to  adjust  the  dif¬ 
ferences  and  make  a  smaller  map  for  Turkey  both 
in  Europe  and  Asia.  The  indefatigable  Patriarch, 
Bishop  Nerses,  sent  a  special  deputation  1  to  Berlin 
to  petition  the  Congress  for  a  Christian  governor  over 
Armenia,  like  that  of  Lebanon  since  1861,  and  the 
European  Powers  themselves  constituting  the  guar¬ 
dians  of  the  Christian  Armenians.  The  Congress  of 
Berlin  saw  at  once  the  justice  and  moderation  of  the 
Armenian  request,  and  as  a  result  we  have  the  sixty- 
first  Article  of  the  Treaty  of  Berlin.  But  with  an 
inexplicable  stupidity,  and  with  a  criminal  credulity, 
this  Congress  left  the  whole  matter  in  the  hands  of 
the  Turkish  government,  as  if  that  wicked  power  was 
ever  ready  and  willing  to  do  what  is  right  and  proper, 
and  the  European  Powers  were  to  take  the  simple 
attitude  of  “watching  over  their  [reforms]  appli¬ 
cation.” 

1  This  deputation  consisted  of  Bishops  Mugurdich,  Khrimian,  Khorens 
NerBey,  DeLusignan  and  Prof.  Minas  Tcheraz. 


The  Armenian  Question  193 

The  Sixty-first  article  runs: 

“The  sublime  Porte  engages  to  realize  without  delay 
those  ameliorations  and  reforms  which  local  needs  re¬ 
quire  in  the  provinces  inhabited  by  the  Armenians, 
and  guarantee  their  security  against  the  Circassians  and 
Kurds.  It  undertakes  to  make  known  from  time  to  time, 
the  measures  taken  with  this  object  to  the  powers  who 
will  watch  over  their  application.” 

It  is  not  enough  to  say  that  the  Turkish  govern¬ 
ment  has  failed  to  introduce  necessary  reforms,  to 
ameliorate  the  condition  of  the  Christians,  or  protect 
them  from  the  atrocities  of  the  Kurds,  Circassians, 
and  the  Turks,  since  the  signing  of  the  Treaty  of 
Berlin,  for  it  has  done  more.  It  has  determined,  one 
way  or  the  other,  gradually  to  decimate  and  finally 
to  exterminate  the  entire  Armenian  population  in 
the  empire.  The  facts  of  the  history  of  the  last  thirty- 
five  years  hear  out  this  assertion. 

It  was  only  two  years  after  the  signing  of  the 
Treaty  of  Berlin  and  England’s  contract  with  Turkey 
that  “the  disturbances  among  the  Kurds  assumed  a 
more  general  character  in  September  (1880),  when 
new  troubles  were  reported  in  the  district  south  of 
Kew  Bajazid  in  the  Sanjak  of  Mush,  and  in  other 
parts  of  the  same  region.  Incendiary  proclamations 
were  addressed  to  the  Armenians  by  the  insurgent 
chiefs,  and  the  governor-general  of  Van  applied  to 
Constantinople  for  reinforcements  but  was  answered 
that  none  could  be  spared.  On  the  20th  of  Septem¬ 
ber  the  Kurds  had  destroyed  thirteen  Armenian 
villages.” 


194  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

The  powers  who  fixed  their  signatures  through 
their  representatives  to  the  treaty  of  Berlin,  “through 
Mr.  Goschen,  presented  a  collective  note,  on  Septem¬ 
ber  7,  1880.  It  refuted  the  statement  of  Abedden 
Pasha,  that  the  government  had  already  begun  the 
work  of  reform,  and  after  criticising  the  projected 
reforms,  declared  that  they  had  been  inadequate  to 
the  object  in  view  and  that  a  much  greater  develop¬ 
ment  of  the  principles  of  decentralization  and  reli¬ 
gious  equality,  the  organization  of  a  better  police 
force,  more  energetic  protection  against  the  Kurds, 
a  more  definite  provision  concerning  the  functions 
of  Governor-General,  could  alone  satisfy  the  rights 
and  expectations  created  by  the  sixty-first  article  of 
the  Treaty  of  Berlin.”  1 

“On  October  3,  without  making  the  slightest  refer¬ 
ences  to  censures  which  had  been  addressed  to  it,  and 
even  appearing  completely  to  ignore  the  collective 
note,  the  Porte,  assuming  a  haughty  tone,  merely 
notified  the  Powers  of  what  it  intended  to  do.”2 

Prom  this  time  on  it  appears  that  the  Powers 
thought  they  had  done  enough.  It  is  also  reported 
that  Prince  Bismarck  expressed  the  opinion  that 
there  would  be  “serious  inconvenience”  in  raising  the 
Armenian  question  and  the  British  Ambassador  at 
Constantinople,  Mr.  Goschen,  in  anticipation,  wrote 
to  Earl  Granville:  “If  they  (the  Powers)  refuse,  or 
give  only  lukewarm  support,  the  responsibility  will 
not  lie  with  Her  Majesty’s  Government.” 

*  Appelton,  Annual  Cyclopaedia,  1880,  p.  689. 

2  Greene,  “The  Armenian  Crisis  in  Turkey,”  p.  78. 


The  Armenian  Question  195 

Thus  the  abandonment  of  the  cause  of  justice  by 
the  Powers,  thus  leaving  the  Armenians  at  the  pleas¬ 
ure  of  the  Turks,  paved  the  way  for  successive  mas¬ 
sacres  by  the  latter  under  various  pretenses. 

Ttte  Circassians,  Kurds,  and  Turks,  have  always 
been  at  liberty  to  go  about  well  armed,  but  no  Chris¬ 
tian  was  allowed  to  carry  arms  of  any  kind,  not  even 
for  self-defense.  In  case  he  was  found  with  arms, 
he  was  arrested  and  cast  into  a  dungeon  of  indescrib¬ 
able  torture.  If  the  Armenians  would  protect  them¬ 
selves  against  their  enemies,  they  were  seized  upon 
by  military  force  as  insurgents.  Yea,  a  groundless 
suspicion  was  enough  for  the  officers,  who  entered,  by 
force  of  arms,  into  the  Armenian  Church  in  Erz- 
roum  (1890),  desecrated  the  sacred  edifice,  disturbed 
the  religious  services  of  the  Christians,  under  the 
pretext  of  searching  for  arms.  The  indignation  of 
the  Christians  at  the  violation  of  their  rights  cost  the 
lives  of  several  persons,  including  that  of  the  Arme¬ 
nian  bishop  of  Erzroum. 

Notorious  Mousa  Bey,  a  Kurdish  chief,  after  com¬ 
mitting  numerous  robberies  and  cruelties,  murdered 
an  Armenian  and  abducted  his  daughter;  at  Bitlis, 
he  tortured  an  Armenian  to  death  with  red-hot  iron. 
At  the  head  of  his  brigands  he  fell  upon  another 
Christian  family  and  destroyed  the  entire  family, 
and  ravished  the  women  in  the  village  of  Dabovank. 
Many  complaints  and  a  multitude  of  witnesses  of  his 
outrages  could  hardly  effect  his  being  brought  to  Con¬ 
stantinople  to  answer  for  those  charges.  After  all 
these  crimes,  the  Turkish  court  of  Justice — rather  of 


196  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

“Mockery,”  as  the  distinguished  statesman,  the  late 
Mr.  Gladstone,  called  it — acquitted  him. 

In  the  summer  of  1890  it  looked  as  if  the  perse¬ 
cution  had  reached  its  climax.  The  London  Daily 
News  sent  special  correspondents  to  Armenia,  and 
their  reports  leave  no  doubt  that  for  some  reason  or 
other  the  Turkish  government  have  resolved  to  make 
the  lives  of  the  Armenians  unbearable. 

“There  is  a  well-founded  suspicion  that  the  sultan  is 
deluding  himself  with  the  idea  that,  by  supplanting 
the  Christian  Armenians  by  Mohammedan  Kurds,  he 
can  raise  up  a  formidable  barrier  to  the  Russian  con¬ 
quest  of  the  province.  The  immediate  result  of  his 
asinine  policy  is  to  make  the  Armenians  look  to  the 
czar  as  their  only  powerful  friend,  and  the  feeling 
of  indignation  in  this  country  is  so  strong  on  the  subject 
that  it  is  probable  Lord  Salisbury  would  not  dare  to 
interfere  should  Russian  troops  enter  Armenia.” 

“Mampre  Benglian,  the  Armenian  bishop  of  Alash- 
gerd,  has  arrived  at  Constantinople  by  way  of  Trebi- 
zond,  under  guard  as  a  criminal.  The  charge  against 
him  is  that  he  advised  his  flock  to  leave  Armenia  and 
seek  refuge  in  Persia.  The  Bishop  was  arrested  and 
subjected  to  the  most  outrageous  indignities,  insulted, 
spat  at,  and  flogged,  thrown  into  a  dungeon  and  there 
confined  for  some  time  before  being  sent  to  Constan¬ 
tinople.  Owing  to  the  remonstrances  by  the  British 
and  Russian  ambassadors,  he  has  been  given  his  freedom 
on  parole.  A  letter  from  Alashgert  says:  ‘We  can 
neither  depart  nor  stay,  and  no  other  course  is  left  us 
but  to  perish  where  we  are.  The  Kurds  and  Turks 
openly  declare  that  they  mean  to  kill  as  many  Armenians 
as  they  can,  and  that  they  have  full  permission/  The 
Kurds  have  set  fire  to  the  crops  of  the  Armenians  in 


197 


The  Armenian  Question 

many  places  in  the  vicinity  of  Bitlis  The  situation 
in  Armenia  is  daily  becoming  more  deplorable.  There 
has  been  a  wholesale  massacre  of  Christians  at  Moosh  ” 

The  Turkish  government  has  revised  the  sixty* 
first  article  of  the  Treaty  of  Berlin,  and  the  other 
signatory  Powers  have  silently  consented  to  it.  The 
following  is  the  Turkish  revision :  “The  sublime  Porte 
engages  to  realize  without  delay  such  maltreatments, 
persecutions,  oppressions,  outrages,  cruelties,  and 
murders  in  the  provinces  inhabited  by  the  Armenians, 
and  guarantees  the  security  of  their  enemies,  the 
Kurds,  Circassians  and  the  Turks,  and  will  acquit 
them  in  case  of  their  being  brought  to  justice,  and 
will  assist  them  in  case  the  Armenians  rise  against 
them  in  self-defense,  by  force  of  arms,  and  will  de¬ 
clare  the  Christians  as  rebels.  It,  moreover,  under¬ 
takes  to  make  known  to  the  civilized  and  Christian 
powers  from  time  to  time,  that  Mohammedanism  and 
barbarism  go  hand  in  hand.”  This  is  just  what  Tur¬ 
key  has  been  doing  with  the  silent  consent  of  the 
European  Powers.  Of  course,  Turkey  is  the  chief 
criminal  in  the  case  and  the  other  Powers  have  been 
accessories  of  her  crime.  And  England  s  share  of 
that  crime  is  confessed  by  the  best  of  England’s 

sons: 

“The  only  effect  of  the  Anglo-Turkish  convention  has 
been  to  increase  the  confidence  of  the  sultan  that  he 
can  do  as  he  pleases  in  Armenia  notwithstanding  Article 
LXI  of  the  Berlin  Treaty. 

“England,  therefore,  is  responsible  in  three  ways.  She 
destroyed  the  Russian  guarantee  exacted  by  the  Treaty 


198  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

of  San  Stefano.  She  framed  the  'watching*  clause  of 
the  Berlin  Treaty,  and  then,  to  preclude  all  possibility 
of  effective  pressure  upon  the  Turk,  she  concludes  the 
Cyprus  convention  which  established  an  illegal  British 
protectorate  over  the  Asiatic  dominions  of  the  Sultan.** 1 

“In  the  field  of  Eastern  politics  generally  the  con¬ 
spicuous  result  has  been  the  failure — the  complete,  hu- 
muliating,  and  irretrievable  failure — of  the  traditional 
policy  pursued  by  England  of  supporting  the  Turk 
against  Russia.  That  policy,  first  attempted  by  Mr. 
Pitt,  in  1791,  against  the  vehement  protests  of  Mr. 
Burke  2  but  presently  abandoned,  was  warmly  espoused 
by  Lord  Palmerston.  It  prompted  the  Crimean  war 
of  1853,  and  was  embodied  in  the  Treaty  of  Paris  of 
1856.  It  had  the  lifelong  support  of  Lord  Beaconsfield, 
who  by  refusing  to  join  Russia,  Austria,  and  Prussia 
in  1876  in  applying  pressure  to  the  sultan,  brought  on 
the  war  of  1877.  Public  opinion  in  Great  Britain,  out¬ 
raged  by  the  Bulgarian  massacre,  prevented  him  from 
giving  the  armed  support  of  Great  Britain  to  the  Turks 
in  that  year.  But  he  was  able  to  revert  to  and  enforce 
that  policy  in  the  negotiations  of  1878,  which  substi¬ 
tuted  the  Treaty  of  Berlin  for  the  Treaty  of  San  Ste¬ 
fano,  and  it  dictated  the  provisions  of  the  Anglo-Turkish 
convention.**3 

The  Armenian  question  is  simply  this : 
Whether  the  Armenians  should  enjoy  the  liberty  of 

1  The  Westminster  Gazette,  Dec.  12,  1894,  reprinted  in  the  Armenia, 
London,  Jan.  1,  1895. 

2  The  following  is  part  of  Burke's  address  quoted  by  Bryce:  "I  have 
never  before  heard  that  the  Turkish  Empire  has  been  considered  any  part 
of  the  balance  of  Powers  in  Europe.  They  despise  and  contemn  all  Chris¬ 
tian  princes  as  infidels,  and  only  wish  to  subdue  and  exterminate  them 
and  their  people.  What  have  these  worse  than  savages  to  do  with  the 
Powers  of  Europe  but  to  spread  war,  destruction,  and  pestilence  among 
them?  The  ministers  and  the  policy  which  shall  give  these  people  any 
weight  in  Europe  will  deserve  all  the  bans  and  curses  of  posterity.”  Quoted 
from  Bryce’s. 

3  Bryce,  "Transcaucasia  and  Ararat,”  p.  519,  4th  ed. 


The  Armenian  Question  199 

conscience  and  of  action  according  to  the  laws  of 
civilization  and  Christianity,  or  whether  they  should 
be  annihilated  by  the  inveterate  enemies  of  civiliza¬ 
tion  and  Christianity,  the  Turkish  rulers.  The  Arme¬ 
nians  brought  this  question  to  the  decision  of  the  Ber¬ 
lin  Congress.  The  Congress  decided  that  the  Arme¬ 
nians  must  enjoy  freedom  of  conscience  and  action 
according  to  the  laws  of  civilization  and  Christianity. 
Turkey,  by  her  representatives,  agreed  and  consented 
to  the  decision  and  promised  to  have  civilized  laws, 
and  give  freedom  to  Christianity.  But  no  sooner 
was  the  Congress  dissolved  and  the  representatives 
of  the  nations  returned  to  their  respective  govern¬ 
ments,  than  the  Turkish  government  took  up  the 
work  of  annihilation  of  the  Christian  Armenians. 
The  decision,  without  any  action  on  the  part  of  the 
Powers,  encouraged  the  Turk  to  return  to  his  mire 
to  wallow  in.1  The  historian’s  sad  duty  is  to  describe 
the  beast  and  his  bestial  acts,  so  far  as  it  is  permis¬ 
sible,  and  to  point  out  the  sources  wherefrom  he 
derives  his  power. 

This  work  of  extermination  has  been  carried  on 
in  different  ways  in  certain  parts  of  the  country. 
While  in  the  interior  small  groups  of  Armenians  have 
been  killed  and  done  away  with,  in  the  cities  im¬ 
prisonments,  tortures,  exiles,  assassinations  and  com¬ 
pulsive  conversions  to  Ismal  have  been  in  vogue.  The 
following  letter  dated  June  26,  1891, 2  published  in 
UObservateur,  from  its  Constantinople  correspon- 

1 II  Peter,  2:22. 

>  Reprinted  in  The  Ararat,  New  York,  July  30,  1891. 


200  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

dent,  will  show  some  ways  of  doing  away  with  the 
Armenians : 

“I  have  already  written  yon,  that  in  consequence  of 
the  late  disturbances  at  Constantinople  most  of  the  Ar¬ 
menian  prisoners  have  been  banished,  in  small  groups, 
to  various  distant  places,  in  order  not  to  attract  the 
attention  of  the  public.  Is  it  possible  ever  to  pen  the 
tortures  that  these  unfortunates  are  suffering  in  Turkish 
prisons?  The  penal  system  in  Turkey  is  still  in  its 
primitive  state,  and  has  undergone  no  improvement 
since  the  time  of  Sultan  Mehmed  II  (1451-1481).  Many 
prisoners  have  not  been  able  to  stand  the  tortures  in¬ 
flicted  upon  them,  and  the  death  of  one  of  them,  Yartan 
Calousdian  (a  young  man  twenty-six  years  of  age), 
is  a  new  proof  of  their  atrocities. 

“The  parents  of  this  young  man,  hearing  of  his  death 
in  prison,  succeeded  in  securing,  through  the  almighty 
'backshish/  the  remains  of  their  beloved  in  order  to  inter 
him  in  their  family  grave.  While  the  attendants  of 
the  Church  at  Galata  were  washing  the  body  according 
to  the  custom  of  the  Armenian  Church,  they  could  not 
withhold  their  tears,  and  they  were  awe-stricken  at  the 
sight  of  numerous  wounds  which  marked  the  body. 
The  poor  young  man  had  many  of  his  ribs  broken,  the 
palms  of  his  hands  and  the  bottom  of  his  feet  were 
burned  and  his  breast  and  back  striped  with  long 
burns.  .  .  . 

“Similar  cases  occur  quite  often  in  Asia  Minor,  but 
the  local  authorities  conceal  them  with  the  utmost  care, 
and  make  every  effort  to  keep  them  from  the  people. 
The  Armenians  have  not  even  the  right  to  emigrate  from 
this  barbarous  country.  I  telegraphed  to  you  yesterday 
that  the  governor  of  Trebizond  prohibited  about  one 
hundred  Armenian  emigrants  from  leaving  the  port  on 
the  Massangeric  steamer  'Niger.5  55 


The  Armenian  Question  201 

Without  the  slightest  fear  of  exaggeration  the 
reader  can  stretch  the  compass  of  his  imagination  to 
picture  to  himself  the  pitiable  condition  of  those  pris¬ 
oners  and  their  families  in  Asia  Minor  and  Armenia 
proper.  There  was  neither  press  nor  the  influence  of 
the  foreign  powers ;  neither  facilities  of  rapid  commu¬ 
nication,  nor  the  possible  use  of  the  telegraph  system 
which  is  controlled  by  the  government;  nor  did  any 
safety  exist  in  the  post-office  system;  letters  were 
often  torn  open  with  the  pretense  of  suspicion,  where 
“similar  cases  occur  quite  often ,  but  the  local  au¬ 
thorities  concealed  them  with  utmost  care.”  These 
unfortunate  prisoners  were  tortured  and  starved  to 
death  in  those  filthy  and  infectious  jails;  their  wives 
were  exposed  to  the  assaults  and  outrages  of  the 
enemies  of  their  religion,  their  daughters  were  ab¬ 
ducted  and  proselyted  by  threats,  their  little  ones 
were  crying  for  bread,  but  there  was  none  to  provide 
for  them.  They  and  their  homes  and  families  were 
completely  ruined.  Like  the  lambs  on  the  thousand 
hills  of  Armenia,  the  Christian  inhabitants  of  West¬ 
ern  Asia  were  turned  over  to  the  Mohammedan  wolves 
by  the  European  Powers. 

The  following  poem,  which  is  translated  and  re¬ 
composed  from  the  original  by  Mr.  Thomas  G.  Allen, 
Jr.,  appeared  with  an  article  by  the  same  gentleman 
in  the  New  York  Herald ,  about  twenty-five  years 
ago.  The  object  of  the  writer  was  to  show  how  the 
inflammatory  and  revolutionary  literature  had  pro¬ 
voked  the  Turks,  who,  almost  driven  out  of  Europe, 


£02  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

were  also  threatened  in  Asia.  The  following  is  his 
closing  words: 

“And  now  the  Turks  are  threatened  in  Asia  itself. 
Is  there  no  possible  reconciliation  between  the  conflict¬ 
ing  elements?  Is  the  unity  of  civilization  to  be  had 
only  by  the  sacrifice  of  whole  populations,  and  those 
above  all,  which  [the  Turks]  are  distinguished  by  the 
highest  moral  qualities — Uprightness,  truth,  manliness, 
courage  and  tolerance?” 

Tastes  surely  differ.  Even  the  bloodthirsty  and 
bestial  Turks  are  distinguished  by  the  highest  moral 
qualities  according  to  Mr.  Allen.  Here  is  the  revo¬ 
lutionary  poem: 

ADDRESS  TO  THE  ARMENIANS 

i 

Stand  firm,  O  Armenians!  Stand  firm  for  the  land 
That  gave  thee  in  childhood  her  cherishing  hand; 

Stand  firm  for  thy  country,  thy  cradle,  thy  grave, 

The  country  that  reeks  with  the  blood  of  the  brave. 

'Tis  here  in  their  dungeons,  ’mid  torture  and  moan 
The  blood  of  thy  fathers  so  freely  has  flown; 

And  this  is  the  land  where  still  thou  hast  saved, 

Great  glories  and  names,  on  thy  memory  engraved. 

’Tis  here,  for  his  home,  and  the  pleasures  it  brought, 

Our  ancestor,  Haik,  so  courageously  fought; 

And  Vartan,  that  champion  of  sweet  liberty, 

Broke  asunder  the  chains  of  foul  slavery. 

O  Freedom,  thou  blessing  that  nations  have  craved, 

How  long  has  thy  ensign  and  emblem  here  waved! 

How  many  Armenians,  so  noble  and  brave, 

For  thee  have  gone  down  to  a  premature  grave! 


203 


The  Armenian  Question 

Though  fortune  has  struck  it  with  terrible  blows, 

And  left  alone  Armenia  a  prey  to  its  foes, 

Though  subdued,  yet  unconquered,  our  nation  still  lives, 
To  break  the  slave  bonds  that  a  base  tyrant  gives. 

Armenia  still  lives,  and  out  to  the  world 
Her  flag  of  distress  she  now  has  unfurled; 

In  torture  and  pain  she  utters  the  cry, 

“With  freedom  to  live;  with  slavery  to  die.” 

Oh,  why  should  our  strife  be  rewarded  with  pain, 

And  the  blood  of  our  bravest  be  poured  out  in  vain! 

Oh,  why  should  our  country's  most  sorrowful  wail. 

Have  stirred  noble  souls  to  a  cause  that  must  fail! 

Oh,  why  should  this  effort  of  unceasing  pace, 

These  brave  souls,  be  given  without  even  a  trace! 

For  this  can  it  be  that  our  country  fares  worse, 

And  even  must  bear  with  this  terrible  curse? 

Nay,  never!  Thank  God,  the  day's  soon  at  hand 
When  victory  shall  marshal  our  patriot  band! 

For  this  we  have  prayed — but  alas!  ever  so, 

Our  prayers  are  unanswered  as  years  come  and  go. 

But  if  ever  thus  the  fates  may  decree, 

Then  welcome  we  death  that  our  souls  may  be  freeu 
Let  kind  Mother  Earth  to  her  bosom  enfold 
The  corpse  of  a  nation,  all  bloodless  and  cold. 

The  nations,  astonished,  may  view  her  dark  grave, 

And  see  the  ruined  homes  they  neglected  to  save; 

And  thousand  of  hearts  with  repentance  may  grieve 
For  the  lost  Christian  nation  they  failed  to  relieve. 


XII 


THE  GOSPEL  AND  THE  KORAN 

THE  condition  of  affairs  in  Turkey  since  the 
signing  of  the  Treaty  of  Berlin  has  been 
growing  from  bad  to  worse.  The  persecu¬ 
tions,  unjust  imprisonments,  constant  tortures,  exiles 
and  executions  of  the  Armenians  have  been  pointing 
to  such  terrible  massacres  as  have  been  taking  place. 

The  real  and  underlying  cause  of  this  state  of 
things  must  now  be  more  emphatically  pointed  out 
than  it  has  yet  been.  In  order  to  do  this,  certain 
facts  of  history  must  be  briefly  rehearsed.  No 
Mohammedan  can  be  expected  to  be  any  better  than 
Mohammed  himself;  that  he  was  a  sensual,  cruel  and 
bloodthirsty  man,  and  a  relentless  enemy  to  Chris¬ 
tianity,  Christians  and  the  Jews,  is  manifest  from 
the  facts  of  history,  his  life  and  his  teaching. 
“Christianity  finds  its  ideal  man  in  the  Christ  of 
the  Gospels ;  the  Moslem  finds  his  in  the  Prophet  of 
the  Koran  and  the  traditions.” 

Some  of  the  teachings  of  Christ  and  His  disciples, 
and  Mohammed  and  his  followers  will  be  put  side 
by  side  to  show  the  incompatibility  of  the  one  with 
the  other,  on  account  of  the  Heavenliness  of  the 
former  and  the  infernality  of  the  latter. 

204 


The  Gospel  and  the  Koran 


205 


The  New  Testament 

Thou  shalt  love  they  neigh¬ 
bor  as  thyself.  Matt.  22:39. 

Lord,  wilt  thou  that  we 
command  fire  to  come  down 
from  heaven,  and  consume 
them  even  as  Elias  did?  He 
rebuked  them  ...  For  the 
Son  of  Man  is  not  come  to 
destroy  men’s  lives  but  to  save 
them.  Luke  9:54-56. 

There  is  one  God  and  one 
Mediator  between  God  and 
men,  the  man  Christ  Jesus. 
I  Tim.  2:5. 

Love  your  enemies,  bless 
them  that  curse  you,  do  good 
to  them  that  hate  you,  and 
pray  for  them  which  despite- 
fully  use  you  and  persecute 
you.  Mat.  5:44. 

Jesus  said  unto  them,  Ye  do 
err,  not  knowing  the  Scriptures 
nor  the  power  of  God.  For  in 
the  resurrection  they  neither 
marry,  nor  are  given  in  mar¬ 
riage,  but  are  as  the  angels  of 
God  in  heaven.  Matt.  22.29- 
30. 

We  are  the  sons  of  God,  we 
know  that  when  He  shall  ap¬ 
pear,  we  shall  be  like  Him. 
I  John  3 :2. 


The  Koran 

O  true  believers,  wage  war 
against  such  of  infidels  as  are 
near  you,  and  let  them  find 
severity  in  you.  A1  Koran, 
chap.  9. 

Verily  the  worst  cattle  in 
the  sight  of  God  are  those  who 
are  obstinate  infidels,  and  will 
not  believe.  A1  Koran,  chap. 
8. 

When  ye  encounter  the  un¬ 
believers,  strike  off  their  heads 
until  ye  have  made  a  great 
slaughter  among  them.  A1 
Koran,  chap.  47. 

There  is  no  God  but  God, 
and  Mohammed  is  His  apostle.1 
The  Mohammedan  Creed. 

O  prophet,  wage  war  against 
the  unbelievers,  and  be  severe 
unto  them,  for  their  dwelling 
shalt  be  hell.  A1  Koran,  chap. 
9. 

“  The  meanest  moslem  (the 
Mohammedan)  will  have  in 
Paradise,  80,000  servants, 
seventy-two  houris  or  girls  of 
Paradise.2 

“  Mohammed  declared  that 
when  he  looked  down  into  hell, 
he  found  the  greater  part  of 
the  wretches  confined  there  to 
be  women.”2 


1  “  When  Gibbon  declared  that  Islamic  motto  ‘  There  is  no  God  but  God, 
and  Mohammed  is  his  apostle,’  asserts  an  eternal  truth  an  dan  eternal 
lie,  he  truly  expressed  its  duplex  and  inconsistent  character.” — Jesup. 
“The  Mohammedan  Missionary  Problem,”  p.  15. 

2  Jesup,  “The  Mohammedan  Missionary  Problem,”  (published  by  the 
Presbyterian  Board  of  Publication,  Phila.),  p.  38. 


206 


Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 


The  Koran 

Fight  thou  against  them 
until  they  pay  tribute  by 
right  of  subjection,  and  they 
be  reduced  low  A1  Koran, 
chap.  9:29. 

“  The  Lord  destroy  the  Jews 
and  Christians.”  1  Moham¬ 
med. 

(The  above  is  Mohammed’s 
last  prayer  before  he  died. — 
Author). 

The  Bible  gives  women  a  place  of  great  importance 
and  service  both  in  the  Old  and  New  Testaments.  The 
temple  had  its  women’s  court,  the  synagogues  and 
early  churches  had  their  respective  places  for  women. 
Their  importance  and  helpfulness  both  in  the  church 
at  home  and  abroad  are  of  inestimable  value.  But 
Mohammed  confined  them,  wholesale,  to  the  infernal 
regions.  Ali  Bey  (1807)  (a  great  authority  on 
Mohammedanism,  and  a  devout  Mohammedan  him¬ 
self,  whom  the  late  Dr.  Jessup  quotes  in  his  work 
above  referred  to),  says:  “As  the  prophet  has  not 
assigned  any  place  for  women  in  his  Paradise,  the 
Mohammedans  give  them  no  places  in  the  mosques 
and  have  exempted  them  from  the  obligation  of  fre¬ 
quenting  the  public  prayer.” 

There  is  one  more  point  of  the  Koran  that  might 
be  contrasted  with  the  teaching  of  the  Bible,  namely, 
that  Mohammed  fostered  the  arrogance  and  pride  of 
his  followers,  without  substantiating  his  claim : 


I  he  New  Testament 

Go  ye,  therefore  and  make 
disciples  of  all  nations.  Matt. 
28:19. 

Father,  forgive  them;  for 
they  know  not  what  they  do. 
Luke  23-34. 


1  Schaff’s  Religious  Encyclopaedia,  Vol.  II,  p.  1542. 


The  Gospel  and  the  Koran  207 

“Ye  are  the  best  nation  that  has  been  raised  up 
unto  mankind.”  A1  Koran,  Chap.  3:106. 

The  Bible  gives  us  some  passages  like  the  above, 
but  they  are  infinitely  different  in  depth,  height  and 
breadth.  “Ye  are  a  chosen  generation,  a  royal  priest¬ 
hood,  an  holy  nation,  a  peculiar  people.”  I  Peter 
2 :9.  Christian  religion  requires  “holiness,  without 
which  no  man  shall  see  God.”  Heb.  12 :14.  “Blessed 
are  the  pure  in  heart ;  for  they  shall  see  God.”  Matt. 
5:8.  Christ  requires  of  His  followers  an  inward , 
as  well  as  an  outward,  conformity  to  the  Character 
of  God.  “Be  ye  therefore  perfect,  even  as  your 
Father  which  is  in  heaven  is  perfect,”  is  the  con¬ 
clusion  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  Mohamme¬ 
danism  requires  of  its  devotees  the  following  five 
things:  A  confession  of  faith  that  there  is  but  one 
God  and  that  Mohammed  is  his  prophet,  prayer, 
fasting,  almsgiving,  and  a  pilgrimage  to  Mecca.  For 
salvation,  repentance  is  the  only  means. 

“Christianity  recognizes  the  freedom  of  man,  and 
magnifies  the  guilt  and  corruption  of  sin,  but  at  the 
same  time  offers  a  way  of  reconciliation  and  redemp¬ 
tion  from  sin,  and  its  consequence  through  the  atone¬ 
ment  of  a  divine  Saviour  and  regeneration  by  the 
Holy  Spirit. 

“Mohammedansim  minimizes  the  freedom  of  man 
and  the  guilt  of  sin,  makes  little  account  of  its  cor¬ 
rupting  influence  m  the  soul,  and  offers  no  plan  of 
redemption  except  that  of  repentance  and  good 

works.”  1 

1  Barrows,  “The  World’s  Parliament  of  Religions,”  Vol.  [i,!  p,  579,  the 
paper  on  Mohammedanism  by  Washburn. 


208  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

Sultan  Abdul  Hamid  II,  who  reigned  from  1876- 
1909,  was  considered  by  many  to  be  a  conscientious 
Mohammedan.  Claiming  also — as  all  the  sultans 
from  the  time  of  Selim  I — to  be  the  lawful  successor 
of  the  prophet  and  Defender  of  the  faith.  He  was, 
therefore,  both  the  head  of  the  Mohammedan  religion 
and  also  the  ruler  over  the  Mohammedan  states.  In 
the  mind  of  a  faithful  successor  of  Mohammed,  the 
prophet  is  the  only  ideal  and  his  conduct  the  only 
guide  to  follow.  To  revive  Mohammedanism  then 
means  the  suppression  of  all  other  religions  as  well 
as  the  building  up  of  all  the  Moslem  institutions. 
These  he  continued  to  do  until  the  time  of  his  depo¬ 
sition. 

Mohammed  and  his  immediate  successors  offered 
to  the  conquered  the  choice  of  one  of  three  things — 
Islam,  slavery,  or  death.  Some  of  the  conquered 
accepted  Islam,  and  thus  ended  their  trouble  on 
earth;  others  were  put  to  death  by  the  conquerors, 
who  saved  their  victims  from  the  misery  of  the 
world ;  those  who  neither  accepted  Islam  nor  were 
put  to  death  were  made  semi-slaves.  Both  the  Arabs 
and  later  the  Turks  needed  some  source  of  revenue 
which  they  derived  from  the  subject  nations,  and 
also  needed  a  class  of  skilled  artisans  and  laborers. 
The  Greeks  and  Armenians  were  very  important  for 
the  maintenance  of  the  Turkish  empire,  especially  in 
its  early  years,  and  up  to  the  middle  of  the  last  cen¬ 
tury.  These  nations,  whether  Armenians,  Greeks, 
Jews  or  Syrians,  however,  were  considered  no  more 
than  prisoners  of  war,  and  were  always  liable  to  have 


209 


The  Gospel  and  the  Koran 

the  offer  of  Islam  or  death  presented  to  them  at  any 
time  as  the  caprice  of  the  ruler  may  choose. 

Again,  the  hatred  and  arrogance  instilled  into  the 
minds  of  the  devotees  of  the  religion  of  Mohammed 
by  the  prophet  and  his  imitators,  fill  every  devout 
Mohammed  with  the  desire,  not  so  much  to  see  the 
conversion  of  the  world  to  Mohammedanism,  as  to 
wish  and  pray  that  Allah  may  destroy  the  infidels— 
non-Moslems — and  give  all  their  possessions  to  the 
Mohammedans.  Hence,  the  official  prayer  of  the 
Mohammedans  which  was  used  throughout  Turkey 
and  daily  repeated  in  the  Cairo  Azhar  University 
by  the  ten  thousand  Mohammedan  students  from  all 
lands.  It  is  translated  from  the  Arabic: 

“I  seek  refuge  with  Allah  from  Satan,  the  regiem 
(the  accursed).  In  the  name  of  Allah  the  Compassion¬ 
ate,  the  Merciful !  0  Lord  of  all  Creatures !  0  Allah ! 
Destroy  the  infidels  and  polytheists,  thine  enemies,  the 
enemies  of  religion!  0  Allah!  Make  their  children 
orphans,  defile  their  abodes,  and  cause  their  feet  to  slip ; 
and  give  them,  and  their  families,  and  their  households, 
and  their  women,  and  their  children  and  their  relatives 
by  marriage,  and  their  brothers,  and  their  friends,  and 
their  possessions,  and  their  race,  and  their  wealth,  and 
their  lands,  as  booty  to  the  Moslems,  0  Lord  of  all 
creatures/5 1 

The  writer  has  attempted  in  the  preceding  few 
pages  to  show,  from  the  Koran  and  from  such  writers 
as  the  late  Dr.  Jesup  of  Beirut  (Syria)  and  the  late 
Dr.  Washburn  of  Constantinople,  who  had  been  in 

1  Jesup,  "The  Mohammedan  Missionary  Problem,”  p.  31.  Pres¬ 
byterian  Board  of  Publication,  Phila. 


210  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

contact  with  Mohammedanism  and  Mohammedans 
almost  half  of  a  century  or  more,  whose  authority 
and  integrity  cannot  be  questioned,  what  Moham¬ 
medanism  is  and  what  it  teaches.  No  Mohammedan 
ruler,  or  a  common  believer  in  Mohammed’s  religion, 
especially  one  who  claims  to  be  his  successor,  dare 
do  otherwise  than  what  the  Koran  and  the  example 
of  the  prophet  teach  him.  Not  one  of  the  grants, 
permits,  promises  of  reform,  liberty  of  religion,  pro¬ 
tection  of  persons,  honor  and  property  of  the  Chris- 
tion  subjects  in  the  empire,  made  by  the  sultans 
under  pressing  circumstances,  or  by  pressure  from 
without,  were  ever  intended  to  be  kept.  Because 
they  could  not  conscientiously  fulfill  those  promises 
and  remain  faithful  Mohammedans. 

One  more  thing  which  deserves  to  be  noted  is  the 
missionary  fire  kindled  in  the  heart  of  every  Moham¬ 
medan  by  the  Koran  and  the  Mohammedan  divines; 
we  refer  to  the  propagation  of  Islam  by  the  sword. 
The  extension  of  the  Mohammedan  religion  depends 
on  the  expansion  of  the  Mohammedan  reign.  Hence 
the  sword  is  the  great  Mohammedan  Missionary. 

“Under  the  head  of  the  civil  laws  [of  Mohamme¬ 
danism]  may  be  comprehended  the  injunction  of 
warring  against  the  infidel,  which  is  repeated  in  sev¬ 
eral  passages  of  the  Koran,  and  declared  to  be  of  high 
merit  in  the  sight  of  God;  those  who  are  slain  fight¬ 
ing  in  defense  of  the  faith  being  reckoned  martyrs, 
and  are  promised  immediate  admission  into  paradise. 
Hence  this  duty  is  greatly  magnified  by  the  Moham- 


The  Gospel  and  the  Koran  211 

medan  divines,  who  call  the  sword  the  key  of  heaven 
and  hell.”  1 

Mohammed  himself  inaugurated  this  by  his  teach¬ 
ing  and  example  as  the  following  incident — one  of 
many — shows:  There  was  a  Jewish  colony  settled 
within  a  short  distance  from  the  city  of  Medina. 
They  have  been  happily  and  prosperously  living  there 
for  a  long  time  in  all  things  like  the  Arabs  except 
their  religion.  They  adhered  to  their  ancestral  faith 
and  refused  to  believe  in  Mohammed  as  the  apostle 
of  God.  This  was  like  a  thorn  in  Mohammed’s  flesh. 
He  gathered  a  sufficient  force  and  attacked  them. 
The  Jews  thought  their  fortified  town  was  a  secure 
refuge  for  them  wherein  they  sheltered  themselves. 
Mohammed  besieged  the  town  and  in  a  short  time 
reduced  it  to  submission  by  starvation.  Then  fol¬ 
lowed  the  terrible  slaughter  of  all  the  men — about 
eight  hundred.  It  took  a  whole  day,  beginning  early 
till  late  at  night,  to  chop  off  their  heads  and  throw 
their  bodies  into  a  trench.  And  the  booty,  and  some 
women  and  children,  he  divided  among  his  faithful 
warriors,  and  the  rest  he  sold  to  the  Arabs.  But 
for  himself — for  his  sensual  gratification — he  selected 
the  most  beautiful  J ewess,  Rihanah  by  name,  and  he 
kept  her. 

In  the  following  pages  the  reader  will  see  more 
of  the  sequel  of  his  infernal  teaching  and  example 
in  the  lives  and  acts  of  his  followers. 


1  Sale’s  "Koran,”  preliminary  discourses,  p.  110. 


XIII 


MASSACRE  OF  THE  CHRISTIANS 

THE  history  of  Mohammedanism  is  a  continuous 
warfare  against  Christianity,  and  the  latter 
alone  has  firmly  and  heroically  stood  against 
Islam  in  Western  Asia.  But  through  what  tortures, 
martyrdoms,  and  massacres  did  the  followers  of 
Christ  pass  from  the  beginning  of  Mohammed’s  re¬ 
ligion  to  the  present  time  ?  The  answer  to  this  ques¬ 
tion  would  fill  volumes. 

Hitherto  the  Turks  have  shown  relentless  bar¬ 
barity,  unabated  intolerance  and  unprovoked  mas¬ 
sacres  of  the  Christians.  A  very  conservative  esti¬ 
mate  will  not  allow  less  than  two  hundred  thousand 
Christians  massacred  during  the  last  century  by  the 
fanatic  followers  of  the  self-made  prophet  of  Arabia. 

In  1821-7,  during  the  Greek  revolution,  thousands 
of  Greeks  were  put  to  death  who  had  no  other  crime 
than  being  of  the  same  religion  and  nationality. 
“Sultan  Mohammed  was  in  the  habit  of  replying  to 
every  success  of  the  Greek  insurgents  by  ordering 
massacres,  violations  and  enslavement  in  regions 
without  defense,  where  there  were  none  hut  women, 
children  and  inoffensive  merchants.  .  .  .  The  Turk¬ 
ish  admiral  was  beaten  at  Samos;  for  that  reason 

212 


Massacre  of  the  Christians  213 

thirty  days  were  spent  in  Cyprus  in  cutting  off 
heads.  .  .  .  The  Sultan  wished  to  take  new  reprisal 
to  terrify  the  ray  as  (Christian  subjects)  and  cause 
the  nations  of  Europe  to  reflect.”  In  the  island  of 
Chios,  though  the  inhabitants  were  not  in  rebellion, 
but  most  docile  and  inoffensive,  yet  “above  forty 
thousand  of  both  sexes  had  either  fallen  victims  to 
the  sword,  or  were  selected  for  sale  in  the  bazaars.” 
Some  fled  to  the  more  inaccessible  parts  of  the  island. 
They  were  assured  of  their  safety  by  the  Turks, 
guaranteed  by  the  European  consuls.  But  no  sooner 
did  they  descend  from  the  heights  than  the  Turks 
put  them  to  death.  “The  number  of  those,  who  be¬ 
came  victims  of  this  perfidious  act,  were  estimated 
at  seven  thousand.”  1 

“The  women  and  children  escaped  death,  their 
beauty  and  youth  saving  them  from  massacre.  They 
were,  however,  to  be  delivered  over  at  once  to  the 
outrageous  assaults  or  to  be  reserved  for  the  shameful 
fate  of  the  harem.  They  were  led  off  in  long  troops ; 
they  were  put  on  the  market  and  sold  in  the  bazaars 
of  Smyrna,  Constantinople  and  Brousa.”2  Large 
numbers  also  suffered  death  or  the  worst  form  of 
slavery,  by  the  hands  of  the  “unspeakable  Turks,” 
who  were  neither  Creeks  nor  belonged  to  the  same 
church,  and  their  only  crime  also  was  that  they,  too, 
were  Christians. 

During  the  war  between  Russia  and  Turkey,  the 
Kurds,  finding  the  country  in  a  disturbed  condition, 


1  Comstock,  “Greek  Revolution,”  p.  222. 
s  Greene,  “The  Armenian  Crisis  in  Turkey,”  p.  98. 


214  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

plundered  many  a  village  and  massacred  not  a  few 
Armenians.  But  the  Turks  seem  to  vie  with  the 
Kurds  in  cruelty.  An  Englishman,  writing  of  the 
war  between  Russia  and  Turkey,  says: 

“The  Turks  with  their  usual  ferocity,  commenced  a 
system  of  carnage  at  Akhalzik  in  1829 ;  every  Christian 
inhabitant  was  slain.” 

In  1843,  in  the  southern  mountains  of  Armenia 
and  Kurdistan,  ten  thousand  Nestorian  and  Arme¬ 
nian  Christians  were  massacred  by  the  faithful  Mos¬ 
lems  of  Mohammed’s  type,  and  as  many  women  and 
children  were  taken  captives  and  sold  for  slaves.  The 
great  explorer,  A.  H.  Layard,  three  years  after  this 
fearful  carnage,  describes  it  in  the  following  lan¬ 
guage: 

“When  the  salughter  of  the  people  of  Ashita  (9000) 
became  known  in  the  valley  of  Liza,  the  inhabitants 
of  the  villages  (1000)  took  refuge  on  a  lofty  platform 
of  rock,  where  they  hoped  either  to  escape  notice  or  to 
defend  themselves  against  any  number  of  assailants. 
Bedr  Khan  Bey  (the  officer  of  the  sultan,  who  had 
charge  of  the  massacre)  surrounded  the  place  and 
watched  until  hunger  and  thirst,  in  hot  sultry  weather, 
had  done  their  work.  After  three  days  a  regular  capit¬ 
ulation  was  signed  and  sworn  on  the  Koran;  their  arms 
were  delivered  up;  the  Kurds  were  admitted  on  the  plat¬ 
form.  Then  did  the  slaughter  begin.  To  save  the 
trouble  of  killing  them,  they  were  pitched  into  the  Zab 
(river)  below.  Out  of  about  one  thousand  only  one 
escaped  from  the  massacre.  The  face  of  the  rock  below 
is  still  covered  with  scattered  bones  of  the  dead,  bleached 


Massacre  of  the  Christians  215 

skulls,  long  locks  of  women’s  hair,  and  torn  portions 
of  garments  they  had  worn.”  1 

In  regard  to  the  massacre  of  the  eleven  thousand 
Christians  in  Syria  in  1860,  a  very  trustworthy 
writer  states: 

“The  officials  of  the  Porte  at  Constantinople  formed 
a  conspiracy  for  the  blotting  out  of  the  Christian  name 
in  those  parts,  they  appointed  their  own  creatures  to 
the  governments  of  Damascus,  Beirut,  Sidon,  and  fur¬ 
nished  them  with  soldiers,  who  were  posted  as  garrison 
in  the  chief  towns  inhabited  by  Christians,  under  pre¬ 
tense  of  defending  them  against  the  Druses.  When  all 
was  ready  the  savage  Druses  of  Hauron  were  summoned, 
and  they  and  their  brethren  of  Lebanon  and  Anti- 
Lebanon  immediately  set  themselves  to  burning  the  vil¬ 
lages  and  killing  the  people  without  any  provocation. 
They  put  to  death  every  male,  even  the  infants  at  the 
breast,  and  enslaved  as  many  of  the  women  and  girls 
as  they  chose.  The  Turkish  garrison  at  first  simply 
looked  on ;  then  they  urged  the  Christians  to  take  refuge 
in  the  castles  on  condition  of  delivering  up  whatever 
weapons  they  might  possess.  They  swore  by  the  Koran 
that  no  harm  should  be  done  them.  But  no  sooner  were 
they  thus  entrapped  than  the  Druses  were  called  in 
and  every  one  of  these  helpless  victims  was  shot  down 
or  his  throat  cut  in  cold  blood.  The  streets  of  Deirel- 
Kamr,  Hosbayan,  and  Zahlah  flowed  with  human  gore, 
in  which  men  waded  ankle  deep.  The  worst  scenes  oc¬ 
curred  in  Damascus,  the  center  of  Moslem  fanaticism. 
Here  the  pasha  himself  directed  the  operations,  and 
after  the  butchery  of  the  Christians  and  the  plunder  of 
their  property,  their  quarter  of  the  city  was  set  on  fire 
and  burned  down.”  2 

1  Layard,  4‘  Nineveh,”  Vol.  I,  pp.  165-6. 

2  Van  Lennep,  ‘‘The  Bible  Lands,”  pp.  745-6. 


216  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

It  was  due  to  the  same  bloodthirstiness  of  the 
Turks,  inculcated  by  the  infernal  teaching  of  the 
Koran,  and  the  examples  of  the  former  Mohammedan 
rulers,  that  the  horrible  massacres  of  the  Bulgarians 
took  place  in  1876.  Hon.  Eugene  Schuyler,  then 
American  Consul-General,  in  his  preliminary  report 
to  the  Hon.  Horace  Maynard,  the  American  minister, 
at  Constantinople,  wrote: 

“Philippopolis,  August  10,  1876. 

Sir:  In  reference  to  the  atrocities  and  massacres 
committed  by  the  Turks  in  Bulgaria,  I  have  the  honor 
to  inform  ^ou  that  I  have  visited  the  towns  of  Adrian- 
ople,  Philippopolis,  and  Tatar,  Bazardjik,  and  villages 
in  the  surrounding  districts.  From  what  I  have  per¬ 
sonally  seen,  and  from  the  inquiries  I  have  made,  and 

the  information  I  have  received,  I  have  ascertained  the 
following  facts : 

The  insurgent  villages  made  little  or  no  resistance. 
In  many  instances  they  surrendered  their  arms  upon  the 
first  demand.  Nearly  all  the  villages  which  were  at¬ 
tacked  by  the  Bashi-bazouks  (irregulars)  were  burned 
and  pillaged,  as  were  also  all  those  which  had  been 
abandoned  by  the  terrified  inhabitants.  The  inhabitants 
of  some  villages  were  massacred  after  exhibitions  of  the 
most  ferocious  cruelty,  and  the  violation  not  only  of 
women  and  girls,  but  even  of  persons  of  the  other  sex. 
Those  crimes  were  committed  by  the  regular  troops  as 
well  as  by  the  bashi-bazouks.  The  number  of  villages 
which  were  burned  in  whole  or  in  part  in  the  districts 
of  Philippopolis,  Roptchus,  and  Tatar-Bazardjik  is  at 
least  sixty-five. 

Particular  attention  was  given  by  the  troops  to  the 
churches  and  schools,  which  in  some  cases  were  destroyed 
with  petroleum  and  gunpowder. 


Massacre  of  the  Christians 


217 


“It  is  difficult  to  estimate  the  number  of  Bulgarians 
who  were  killed  during  the  few  days  that  the  disturb¬ 
ances  lasted ;  but  I  am  inclined  to  put  fifteen  thousand 
as  the  lowest  for  the  districts  I  have  named. 

“  .  .  .  This  village  after  a  promise  of  safety  with¬ 
out  firing  a  shot  surrendered  to  the  bashi-bazouks,  under 
command  of  Ahmed  Aga,  a  chief  of  rural  police.  Despite 
his  promise,  the  arms  once  surrendered,  Ahmed  Aga 
ordered  the  destruction  of  the  village  and  the  indis¬ 
criminate  slaughter  of  the  inhabitants,  about  a  hundred 
young  girls  being  reserved  to  satisfy  the  lust  of  the  con¬ 
queror  before  they  too  should  be  killed.  Not  a  house 
is  now  standing  in  this  lovely  valley.  Of  the  eight 
thousand  inhabitants  not  two  thousand  are  known  to 
survive. 

“Ahmed  Aga,  who  commanded  the  massacre,  has  since 
been  decorated  and  promoted  to  the  rank  of  yus  bashi 
(centurion). 

•  •  «  •  • 

“I  am,  sir,  yours  very  truly, 

“Eugene  Schuyler. 

“'The  Hon.  Horace  Maynard,  etc.”  1 

It  was  in  the  following  year,  1877,  that  Armenia 
witnessed  new  horrors.  The  correspondent  of  the 
London  Times  wrote  of  the  massacre  of  the  Arme¬ 
nians  at  Bayazid: 

“The  scene  that  ensued  [the  massacre]  was  one  of 
unparalleled  horror.  The  town  contained  one  hundred 
and  sixty-five  Christian  families,  and  all  the  men, 
women  and  children  were  ruthlessly  put  to  the  sword. 
A  Turkish  officer,  who  visited  the  town  a  few  days  sub¬ 
sequently,  states  that  there  was  not  a  single  inhabitant 
left.  ...  In  every  house  he  entered  small  groups  of 


i  Greene,  “The  Armenian  Crisis  in  Turkey,”  pp.  101-2. 


218  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

dead  were  lying  shockingly  mutilated,  and  in  the  most 
revolting,  indecent  positions.  Captain  McCalmont,  who 
visited  the  place  shortly  after  the  Kussian  relief,  states 
that  it  is  entirely  deserted  and  a  mere  heap  of  ruins; 
also  that  soldiers  were  employed  for  six  days  in  burying 
the  dead,  the  number  of  whom  it  was  impossible  to 
estimate.”  1 

“The  American  missionaries  have  been  forced,  for 
fear  of  their  lives,  to  take  refuge  in  a  boat  on  the  Lake 
(of  Yan).  .  .  .  Their  Christian  charges  have  been 
subjected  to  the  grossest  treatment — crops  cut  and  car¬ 
ried  away,  cattle  killed,  villages  burnt,  men  murdered, 
and  w'orst  of  all,  women  and  even  children  violated. 
Churches  afford  no  refuge  for  these  wretched  mortals. 
Ten  who  fled  for  safety  into  the  church  at  Utch-Kilissa 
were  there  foully  murdered.  .  .  .  Hundreds  of  Chris¬ 
tian  villages  in  Armenia,  having  been  gutted  and  fired 
by  these  miscreants,  are  completely  abandoned,  and  their 
inhabitants  have  fled  for  refuge  into  the  Kussian  camps. 
Hordes  of  fanatics,  led  by  Moolahs  (learned),  have 
joined  the  Turkish  army.  Their  fury  is  daily  fed  by 
the  exhortations  and  addresses  of  the  priests,  who  have 
denounced  the  war  as  a  menace  to  the  Ottoman  (Mo¬ 
hammedan)  religion,  and  they  are  led  to  commit  every 
conceivable  excess  against  the  defenseless  Christians, 
whom  they  accuse  of  furnishing  information  to  the 
enemy.  Facts  prove  the  reverse,  for  as  yet  not  a  single 
Armenian  spy  has  been  discovered  by  the  authorities, 
while  several  Kurds  and  Circassians,  preferring  money 
to  •faith,  have  paid  for  their  treachery  with  their  lives ; 
in  short  every  spy  hanged  during  this  war  has  been  a 
Mohammedan.  .  .  . 

“Outrages  on  Mohammedans,  being  against  the 
Koran,  are  visited  with  great  severity;  outrages  against 
Christians,  who  are  considered  beyond  the  pale  of  the 


1  Norman,  "Armenia  and  the  Campaign  of  1877,"  p.  273. 


Massacre  of  the  Christians  219 

law,  are  left  unnoticed.  The  massacre  at  Bayazid,  the 
desecration  of  Russian  graves,  mutilation  of  corpses, 
violation  of  a  flag  of  truce,  and  the  recent  cruelties 
towards  the  Christians  at  Van,  all  furnish  excuses,  and 
valid  excuses,  too,  for  a  continuance  of  the  war.  We 
cannot  hope  that  a  great  power  like  Russia  will  sit 
quietly  down  under  the  reverses  her  arms  have  sustained 
during  the  past  month,  and  will  permit  the  Christians, 
on  whose  behalf  she  has  ostensibly  made  war,  to  be 
treated  in  Armenia  as  they  were  last  year  in  Bulgaria. 
She  must  compel  the  Porte,  by  force  of  arms,  to  respect 
the  rights  of  all  her  Christian  subjects,  and  afford  to 
them  equal  protection  and  privilege  as  to  Mohammedans. 
At  present  this  is  far  from  being  the  case,  Mussulman 
officials  literally  treating  them  worse  than  the  dogs 
which  act  as  scavengers  in  their  streets.  I  mean  this 
as  no  mere  figure  of  speech,  but  as  an  actual  fact,  borne 
out  not  only  by  what  I  myself  have  witnessed,  but  also 
by  reports  of  occurrences  which  have  come  under  the 
notice  of  many  of  the  American  missionaries  in  Arme¬ 
nia,  who  daily  receive  complaints  from  their  Christian 
congregations  of  the  cruelties  and  acts  of  oppression 
they  endure  at  the  hands  of  the  Kurds,  whom  the  Otto¬ 
man  government  have  now  let  loose  in  Anatolia.”  1 

I  have  quoted  a  long  passage  from  Mr.  Norman’s 
book  to  show  the  miserable  condition  of  the  Arme¬ 
nians  who  were  treated  worse  than  the  street-dogs  by 
the  Mohammedans,  the  officers  and  the  rest,  and  that 
these  outrages  were  well  known  in  England,  yet  in 
the  following  year,  “England  at  the  Berlin  Congress, 
and  England  alone — for  none  of  the  other  powers 
took  any  interest  in  the  matter — destroyed  the  secu¬ 
rity  which  Russia  had  extorted  from  the  Turkish 


*  Norman,  “Armenia  and  the  Campaign  of  1877,”  pp.  234-5, 


220  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

...  *> 

government  at  San  Stefano,  and  substituted  for  the 
sterling  guarantee  of  Russia,  the  worthless  paper 
money  of  Ottoman  promises.”1 

Mr.  Norman  himself  wrote:  “Naturally,  since  I 
have  been  here  (in  Armenia)  I  have  had  many, 
very  many,  opportunities  of  conversing  with  Turkish 
officers  and  men  on  the  so-called  Eastern  question  ; 
and  the  consequence  is  that,  arriving  in  the  country 
a  strong  philo-Turk,  deeply  impressed  with  the  neces¬ 
sity  of  preserving  the  ‘integrity  of  the  Empire’  in 
order  to  uphold  ‘British  interests,’  I  now  fain  would 
cry  with  Mr.  Freeman,  ‘Perish  British  interests, 
perish  our  dominion  in  India,  rather  than  that  we 
should  strike  a  blow  on  behalf  of  the  wrong  against 
the  right.’  ”2  England,  however,  did  strike  a  fatal 
“blow  on  behalf  of  the  wrong  against  the  right,”  in 
the  negotiations  of  1878,  when  Lord  Beaconsfield 
“substituted  the  Treaty  of  Berlin  for  the  Treaty  of 
San  Stefano,  and  dictated  the  provisions  of  the  Anglo- 
Turkish  convention.” 

Sultan  Abdul  Hamid  not  only  henceforth  had  a 
new  lease  of  life  for  his  empire,  but  by  the  British 
illegal  protectorate  over  his  Asiatic  provinces,  he 
had  also  her  protection  against  Russia.  And  while 
thus  protected,  he  determined  to  settle  his  internal 
affairs,  not  by  doing  what  he  promised,  to  the  Euro¬ 
pean  powers  collectively  and  to  England  separately, 
to  do,  namely,  to  protect  his  Christian  subjects 
against  robberies,  oppressions,  outrages  and  murders, 

1  The  Westminster  Gazette,  Dec.  12,  1894,  reprinted  in  the  Armenia, 
London,  Jan.,  1895. 

1  Norman,  “Armenia  and  the  Campaign  of  1877,”  pp.  158-9. 


Massacre  of  the  Christians 


221 


but  by  systematic  and  gradual  extermination  of  tbe 
Armenians  in  order  to  rid  himself  of  the  Armenian 
question.  Vambery’s  description  of  the  character 
of  Sultan  Abdul  Hamid  II  may  give  us  some  idea 
how  this  crafty  man  would  act:  “I  never  met  with 
a  man  the  salient  features  of  whose  character  were 
so  contradictory,  so  uneven,  and  disproportionate,  as 
with  Sultan  Abdul  Hamid.  Benevolence  and  wicked¬ 
ness,  generosity  and  meanness,  cowardice  and  valor, 
shrewdness  and  ignorance,  moderation  and  excess, 
and  many  other  qualities  have  alternately  found  ex¬ 
pression  in  his  acts  and  words.”  1  Sultan  Abdul 
Hamid  could  do  like  his  master  of  whom  Paul  wrote 
to  the  Corinthians,  and  said:  “Ho  marvel;  for  Satan 
himself  is  transformed  into  an  angel  of  light.”  (II 
Cor.  11:  14).  He  was  too  shrewd  to  openly  inau¬ 
gurate  the  work  of  extermination  of  the  Christians 
and  the  persecution  of  Christianity,  but  he  did  it, 
first  underhandedly,  until  some  Armenians,  driven  to 
desperation,  resorted  to  self-defense.  Of  course  in 
the  case  of  a  Christian’s  self-defense  his  resentment 
of  the  outrages  against  the  oppressor  is  considered 
an  act  of  rebellion,  and  the  acts  of  robbery,  outrage, 
and  murder  perpetrated  by  the  Mohammedan  upon 
the  defenseless  Christians  are  considered  meritorious 
virtues.  St.  Paul  said,  “Ho  marvel” ;  Sultan  Abdul 
Hamid  is  transformed  into  an  angel  of  light,  what 
else  can  we  expect  ?  There  were,  undoubtedly,  many 
Armenians  who  did  revolt  against  such  perversions 
of  truth.  Who  can  always  sit  still  and  look  like  a 


1  The  19th  Century,  July,  1909. 


222  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

statue  while  the  wrong-doer  is  robbing,  outraging  and 
murdering  his  loved  ones,  and  not  revolt  against  such 
acts,  and  not  give  a  blow  against  the  wrong-doer,  even 
if  we  know  that  he  may  be  cut  to  pieces  for  his  doing 
so  ?  This  was  the  kind  of  rebellion  that  some  Ar¬ 
menians  were  accused  of. 

The  Turkish  government’s  accusation  of  the  Ar¬ 
menians  with  the  device  of  a  revolution  was  simply 
made  up  of  the  tissues  of  falsehood,  and  woven  by  the 
iniquity  of  the  head  of  the  government,  to  shroud 
the  just  and  righteous  cause  of  the  Armenian  ques¬ 
tion;  to  bury  it  in  an  ignominious  grave  of  a  rebel¬ 
lion  that  failed.  But  there  was  no  rebellion,  there 
could  be  no  rebellion.  It  was,  however,  convenient 
for  the  British  government  and  some  other,  equally 
guilty,  governments  of  Europe,  to  justify  their  crimi¬ 
nal  indifference,  or  self  interests,  to  pretend  that  it 
was  and  that  the  Armenians  were  not  persecuted  for 
their  religion.  The  Mohammedan  government  would 
not  say — for  she  had  no  regard  for  the  truth — that 
she  was  torturing  and  slaughtering  the  Armenians 
because  they  were  Christians.  It  is  perfectly  natural 
for  a  corrupt  and  depraved  heart  to  falsify  and  de¬ 
clare  to  those,  who  ask  the  reason  of  her  murdering 
the  Christians,  to  say  that  she  is  suppressing  a  revo¬ 
lution.  But  for  any  so-called  Christian  nation  and 
government,  like  that  of  England,  accepting  Hamid’s 
excuse  and  explanation,  and  declaring  that  to  the 
world  was  plainly  protecting  and  defending  the 
criminal  at  the  bar  of  justice  and  humanity. 

The  Turkish  government  knew,  so  did  the  Euro- 


Massacre  of  the  Christians 


223 


pean  governments,  that  an  Armenian  revolution  was 
an  impossibility,  and  such  an  excuse  was  an  absurd¬ 
ity.  The  Armenians,  who  hardly  number  two  mil¬ 
lions,  scattered  among  the  eighteen  millions  of  the 
Mohammedans,  the  latter  having  a  standing  army  of 
several  hundred  thousand  soldiers  at  their  command, 
would  indeed  have  been  fools,  and  the  Turks  equal 
fools  to  be  afraid  of  such  a  rebellion,  and,  therefore, 
had  taken  such  severe  measures  to  suppress  it.  Such 
a  thing  was  not  only  an  absurdity  but  it  was  also  the 
most  wicked  thing  both  on  the  part  of  the  Turks 
and  on  the  part  of  the  friends  of  the  Moslems,  who 
pretended  to  believe  it. 

About  1892  Sultan  Abdul  Hamid  called  the  Kurd¬ 
ish  chiefs  to  Constantinople  and  supplied  them  with 
military  titles,  uniforms,  and  modern  weapons  of 
war,  and  sent  them  back  to  organize  their  tribes  into 
“Hamidieh”  cavalry  regiments,  which  numbered 
about  twenty-two  thousand  and  five  hundred  men. 
The  Sultan  thus  “obtained  a  power  eager  in  time  of 
peace  to  crush  the  Armenian  growth  and  spirit  ” 
The  Armenians  “besought  the  protection  of  the  co¬ 
signatory  powers  to  the  Berlin  guarantees  against 
the  ruthless  oppression  of  the  lawless  and  ruffianly 
Kurds,  and  with  the  tacit  consent ,  if  not  the  approba¬ 
tion  of  the  powers ,  the  Porte  now  appoints  their  worst 
enemies  as  their  guardians.” 

A  few  fragmentary  instances  may  show  what  these 
— the  government’s — licensed  robbers  and  murderers 
have  done.  The  following  is  part  of  a  letter  written 


224  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

by  an  American  missionary  in  the  summer  of  1892 
from  Southern  Armenia: 

“We  journeyed  east  of  north  over  the  hills,  and 
dropped  down  into  another  valley,  in  the  bosom  of  which 
nestled  the  Armenian  village  of  Khundik,  of  about 
twenty  houses.  It  was  a  charming  spot,  but  the  op¬ 
pression  of  surrounding  Kurdish  begs  (chiefs)  was  de¬ 
pleting  the  population.  Their  church  has  been  reduced 
to  a  heap,  and  they  were  not  allowed  to  restore  it.” 

Dr. - ,  a  medical  missionary,  writing  of  his  tour 

under  date  of  October  20,  1892,  stated: 

“It  was  somewhat  risky  going  among  the  Arabkir 
villages.  Robberies  were  of  almost  daily  occurrence, 
and  the  villagers  were  in  a  state  of  constant  alarm  at 
night  on  account  of  the  raids  of  the  Kurds.  .  .  .  The 
village  of  Horesik  is  in  a  district  of  perhaps  thirty 
Armenian  villages;  but  it  is  one  of  the  most  oppressed 
districts  in  the  empire.  A  long  time  ago  some  Turkish 
feudal  chiefs  came  from  abroad,  and  gradually  gained 
possession  of  the  whole  district.  They  now  claim  to  own 
all  the  land,  and  even  the  houses  which  the  people 
occupy,  and  which  the  occupants  built,  and  the  gardens 
and  vineyards  which  they  planted.” 

It  was  not  the  Kurds,  and  some  Turkish  feudal 
chiefs  alone,  but  the  officers  of  the  government  who 
carry  the  sword  for  the  punishment  of  the  evil-doer 
were  also  among  the  worst  kind  of  tormentors  and 
evil-doers  themselves. 

“October,  1892 :  At  all  the  villages  on  the  lake  (Van) 
soldiers  were  stationed  to  keep  boats  from  landing,  on 
account  of  cholera.  .  .  .  Then  the  quartering  of  the 
soldiers  in  the  villages.  You  can  imagine  what  that 


Massacre  of  the  Christians 


225 


means  for  the  poor  Armenians,  you  can  sympathize  with 
them  in  the  idea  that  the  cure  is  worse  than  the  disease ; 
that  they  would  much  rather  take  the  risk  of  having 
the  cholera  than  have  the  soldiers  about.  And  it  is 
not  only  the  soldiers  and  underpaid  gendarmes  that 
oppress  the  villagers,  extorting  the  best  and  making  no 
return.  An  officer,  the  captain  of  one  thousand,  with 
seven  horsemen,  had  just  been  at  a  village  we  visited. 
They  and  their  horses  were  fed  with  the  best  and  went 
off  without  paying  anything.” 

On  the  night  of  the  5th  of  January,  1893,  in  sev¬ 
eral  important  cities  of  Asia  Minor  placards  were 
posted  attacking  the  Turkish  government.  Who  did 
this  was  a  mystery.  A  prominent  editor  of  a  leading 
periodical  in  this  country,  who  was  well  informed  of 
the  condition  of  affairs  in  Turkey,  said,  “the  general 
belief  of  all  classes  is  that  the  more  fanatical  softas 
(students  in  the  mosques)  are  the  real  offenders.” 
That  may  have  been  the  case.  But  later  events  and 
instances  positively  show  that  the  government’s  emis¬ 
saries  had  done  it  in  order  to  furnish  an  excuse  for 
the  officers  of  the  government  to  accuse  the  Armenians 
of  sedition,  and  blindfold  the  European  powers  who 
were  overanxious  to  abandon  the  cause  of  justice  and 
humanity  for  any  pretext. 

Two  of  these  placards  were  affixed  to  the  gate  of 
the  mission  premises  at  Marsovan,  but  were  soon  seen 
and  pulled  down  by  persons  belonging  to  the  college. 
Husrev  Pasha  was  appointed  to  investigate  the  mat¬ 
ter.  This  official  himself  had  threatened  in  violent 
terms  both  the  college  and  its  teachers,  “'Charging  the 
institution  with  being  a  source  of  sedition,  and  affirm- 


226  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

ing  that  the  placards  were  issued  from  the  college.” 
Those  very  officials  themselves  had  “declared  that  the 
place  where  the  college  stood  should  be  as  a  plowed 
field.” 

On  the  29th  of  January,  Professor  Thoumanian 
and  later  Professor  Kayayan,  two  Armenian  teachers 
of  the  college,  were  arrested  and  imprisoned.  There 
was  no  evidence  of  their  having  issued  these  placards. 
On  the  night  of  February  1st,  the  girls’  school  was  set 
on  fire.  The  Turkish  authorities  who  declared  that 
they  were  going  to  burn  the  building,  after  so  doing, 
began  to  charge  the  crime  upon  the  college  authorities 
“either  for  the  purpose  of  exciting  the  Armenians 
to  revolt,  or  to  cover  up  the  fact  that  arms  and 
ammunition  were  concealed  in  the  building.  These 
most  absurd  charges  were  sent  to  Constantinople,  and 
the  corrupt  officials,  who  have  themselves  been  impli¬ 
cated  in  the  burning  were  charged  with  the  duty  of 
investigating  the  affair.  Meantime  numberless  ar¬ 
rests  were  made,  not  only  in  Marsovan  but  in  all 
parts  of  the  province.  United  States  Consul,  Mr. 
Jewett,  who  was  stationed  at  Sivas,  went  to  Marso¬ 
van.  But  his  dispatches  to  our  minister  at  Constan¬ 
tinople,  and  the  minister’s  dispatches  to  him,  were 
interfered  with,  and  it  was  with  the  greatest  diffi¬ 
culty  that  he  secured  any  communication  with  his 
superior  officer.” 

The  Turkish  government  could,  and  had  created 
riots  at  will,  and  thus  have  an  excuse  to  fall  upon 
the  defenseless  Christians  to  torture  and  butcher 
them:  London,  February  14,  1893 — “A  despatch 


Massacre  of  the  Christians  227 

from  Vienna  says  that  one  hundred  and  twenty-five 
Armenians  were  killed  and  three  hundred  and  fortv 

\j 

were. wounded  during  the  recent  riot  at  Yosgat,  Tur¬ 
key.”  Constantinople,  July  14,  1893 — “The  British 
Embassy  has  received  news  that  three  hundred  police 
and  Bashi-Bazouks  were  sent  out  from  Caesarea  in 
February  to  arrest  so-called  refugees  in  Everek.  They 
looted  every  Armenian  house  in  the  town,  and  abused 
the  women.” 

Here  is  another  despatch  from  Constantinople 
under  date  March  15,  1893:  • 

“Moslem  mobs  have  possession  of  Caesarea.  They  have 
established  a  reign  of  terror  over  the  Armenian 
churches,  have  robbed  hundreds  and  have  killed  many. 
During  services  in  three  Armenian  churches  the  other 
day  the  mob  burst  in  the  doors,  stripping  the  women 
of  their  jewelry  and  beat  and  cut  the  men.  After  the 
Armenians  fled  the  Moslems  sacked  the  churches.  They 
afterwards  went  through  the  streets  attacking  all  the 
Armenians  they  met,  bursting  into  private  houses,  and 
sacking  shops.  All  places  of  business  are  closed  and 
trade  is  utterly  stagnant.  Violence  and  theft  are  said 
to  continue  day  and  night.  Furthermore,  Christian 
caravans  are  being  robbed  and  the  merchants  murdered. 
The  prisons  are  crowded  with  Armenian  prisoners.  Most 
of  the  conspicuous  Armenians  of  Caesarea  and  Marsovan 
have  been  imprisoned.” 

The  following  British  Consular  reports  were  de¬ 
spatched  from  London,  April  10,  1893 : 

“Advices  from  Constantinople  show  that  the  British 
consuls  at  Smyrna,  Trebizond,  and  other  places  in  Ana¬ 
tolia,  have  sent  in  official  reports  of  Turkish  outrages  on 


228  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

native  Christians.  These  reports  include  the  names  of 
eighteen  hundred  Armenians  who  are  imprisoned  on 
various  charges  in  the  several  consular  jurisdictions. 
Among  other  matters  the  serious  charge  is  preferred 
that  it  is  a  common  occurrence  for  the  Turks  to  kidnap 
Christian  girls  and  dispose  of  them  to  the  owners  of 
harems.  If  the  relatives  and  friends  of  the  girls  attempt 
to  regain  them,  they  are  met  with  the  statement  that 
the  girls  have  embraced  Mohammedanism,  and  this,  as 
a  rule,  ends  the  matter  so  far  as  the  Armenians  are 
concerned;  the  Christians  are  ridiculed  and  subjected 
to  gross  outrages,  and  if  they  object  to  their  treatment 
they  find  themselves  arrested  on  trumped  up  charges, 
and  are  always  found  ‘guilty.’ ” 

The  Rev.  Dr.  F.  E.  Clark,  the  President  of  the 
U.  S.  C.  E.,  while  in  Turkey  on  his  tour  around  the 
world,  wrote: 

“I  could  not  use  the  words  society  or  organization, 
endeavor,  union,  etc.,  without  the  risk  of  getting  my 
interpreter,  my  audience,  and  myself  into  an  unspeak¬ 
able  Turkish  dungeon.  In  one  village  a  poor  broken¬ 
hearted  woman  came  to  tell  us  that  her  husband,  who 
was  a  Protestant  preacher,  had  utterly  disappeared. 
Three  weary  months  of  anxious,  heart-sick  watching 
had  passed  away,  and  she  had  had  no  message.  What 
his  alleged  offense  was  she  had  no  idea.  Whether  he  is 
dead  or  alive,  in  prison  or  in  exile,  she  could  not  tell; 
and  perhaps  the  mystery  of  his  disappearance  will  never 
be  solved.”  After  giving  several  instances  of  this  kind, 
Dr.  Clark  adds:  “These  are  only  isolated  instances  of 
hundreds  that  might  be  cited.”  1 

In  the  above  pages  a  very  few  instances  were  given, 
which  could  be  multiplied  by  the  hundred,  if  the 

1  The  Independent ,  June  15,  1893,  New  York. 


Massacre  of  the  Christians 


229 


time  and  space  would  permit,  but  there  is  no  need. 
For  neither  did  the  Turks  nor  their  friends  deny 
them.  Moreover,  some  of  the  instances  of  cruelty 
and  outrage  are  too  painful  to  be  put  in  print. 

The  attention  of  the  reader  may  now  be  directed 
to  the  condition  of  the  so-called  “agitators,”  who 
have  been  arrested  and  imprisoned  in  various  cities. 
According  to  the  British  consular  “reports  included 
the  names  of  eighteen  hundred  Armenians.”  Some 
of  these  prisoners,  after  having  been  well  fleeced, 
were  likely  set  free  while  at  their  respective  cities, 
others  possibly  left  still  in  prisons,  and  a  great  num¬ 
ber  of  them  were  probably  done  away  with  in  various 
ways;1  for  we  were  informed  by  the  following  de¬ 
spatch  that  only  fifty-six  were  tried  at  Angora: 
Constantinople,  June  18,  1893 — “The  trial  of  Ar- 

1  The  following  explains  itself:  The  private  advices  from  Constantinople 
give  the  Press  information  of  a  tragic  discovery.  The  harbor  of  that  city 
has  no  wharves.  Vessels,  after  discharging  their  cargoes  at  the  custom¬ 
house,  anchor  in  the  harbor  and  receive  their  cargoes.  On  September 
30,  1893,  a  Russian  merchantman  anchored  off  Seraglio  Point,  and,  having 
received  her  cargo,  would  raise  her  anchor  to  sail  for  home.  The  anchor 
seemed  to  be  caught  in  something  heavy.  After  long  efforts  it  was  raised. 
It  brought  up  with  it  fifteen  large  haircloth  sacks,  such  as  are  used  by  Tur¬ 
kish  merchants  in  packing  goods  for  shipment. 

“At  first  the  Russian  captain  thought  he  had  disclosed  a  smuggling 
scheme.  Upon  investigation  he  discovered  that  the  sacks  were  filled  with 
human  bodies,  each  sack  containg  from  fifteen  to  twenty.  Further  in¬ 
vestigation  disclosed  that  they  were  the  bodies  of  Armenian  political 
prisoners. 

“Foreign  ambassadors  to  Turkey  had  recently  complained  that  the 
prisons  were  overcrowded  with  Armenian  prisoners,  and  the  government 
decided  to  remove  the  cause  of  complaint.  Accordingly  about  three  hun¬ 
dred  prisoners  were  taken  on  board  of  a  Turkish  man-of-war,  ostensibly 
for  transportation  to  Africa.  In  the  night,  however,  the  fellows  were 
murdered,  their  bodies  placed  in  sacks,  which  were  tied  one  to  the  other, 
and  thrown  into  the  harbor.  This  is  in  keeping  with  the  Grand  Vizier’s 
declaration  a  short  time  ago,  that  he  would  settle  the  Armenian  question  by 
annihilating  the  Armenians  as  a  race.  A  discovery  similar  to  this  was  made 
in  the  harbor  of  Salonica  a  year  ago.” 


230  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

menians  accused  of  being  concerned  in  rioting  at 
Caesarea  and  Marsovan  last  spring  has  just  been  con¬ 
cluded  at  Angora.  Seventeen  of  the  prisoners,  in¬ 
cluding  Professors  Thoumanian  and  Kayayan,  were 
condemned  to  death;  six,  including  the  Protestant 
pastor  at  Goemerek,  were  sentenced  to  fifteen  years’ 
imprisonment ;  eighteen — one  was  a  woman,  thirty- 
three  years  old — were  sentenced  to  imprisonment  for 
terms  ranging  from  seven  to  ten  years,  and  fifteen 
were  acquitted.”  Three  others  tortured  to  death  in 
prison. 

Professors  Thoumanian  and  Kay  ay  an  were  par¬ 
doned  by  the  sultan  on  the  condition  that  “they 
should  leave  the  Turkish  territories  and  never 
return.” 

The  following  despatch  is  reproduced  to  show 
what  impression  the  Foreign  office  of  Her  Majesty’s 
government  had  received  with  regard  to  the  trials 
of  those  unfortunate  Armenians,  and  their  execution : 

London,  August  2,  1893 — “The  question  of  Turkish 
outrages  upon  the  Armenian  Christians  was  brought  up 
in  the  House  of  Commons  to-day.  Several  members 
asked  for  information  as  to  the  charges  made  that  the 
Turkish  officials  had  tortured  the  prisoners  who  were 
some  time  ago  arrested  for  complicity  in  the  seditious 
rioting  in  Caesarea  and  Marsovan  in  their  efforts  to  get 
the  accused  to  implicate  themselves  and  others.  In  re¬ 
sponse  to  the  questions  Sir  Edward  Grey,  Parliamentary 
Secretary  of  the  Foreign  office,  said  that  what  little 
information  the  Foreign  Office  had.  on  the  subject  was 
very  painful.  Fifty-six  persons  had  been  (tried)  ar¬ 
rested  and  of  this  number  seventeen  had  been  condemned 


Massacre  of  the  Christians  231 

to  death,  and  many  of  the  others  sentenced  to  long 
terms  of  imprisonment.  Subsequently  the  Sultan  of 
Turkey  commuted  the  death  sentence  of  all  but  five 
of  the  prisoners.  These  five  men  have  been  executed 
within  the  past  two  or  three  days.  From  the  evidence 
that  had  been  given  at  the  trials,  all  of  which  had  been 
carefully  investigated  by  the  British  representative  in 
Turkey,  and  a  report  thereon  forwarded  to  the  Foreign 
Office,  it  was  clear  that  two  of  the  men  executed,  and 
probably  more,  were  innocent  of  the  charges  made 
against  them.  The  British  representative  in  Constan¬ 
tinople  had  used  his  influence  to  convince  the  Ottoman 
authorities  that  the  trials  were  unfair ,  but  his  efforts  to 
have  the  wrong  righted  were  in  vain.” 

These  political  “agitators”  and  “seditions  rioters,” 
terms  applied  to  the  Armenians  by  the  Turkish  gov¬ 
ernment  and  its  officials,  only  were  mere  inventions. 
As  it  has  been  said  the  oppression,  cruel  persecu¬ 
tions,  and  outrages  drove  the  Armenians  to  despera¬ 
tion,  and  when  they  did  anything  in  self-defense, 
or  even  if  they  attempted  to  consult  what  they  should 
do  against  the  assaults,  they  were  set  upon  and 
treated  still  worse.  The  disturbance  at  Yozgat,  for 
instance,  was  stated  in  the  following  manner:  An 
Armenian  spy  in  the  employ  of  the  Turkish  govern¬ 
ment  was  murdered  by  an  Armenian  revolutionist 
from  Russia.  Instead  of  the  murderer  being  found 
and  arrested,  all  the  men  of  the  village  where  the 
murder  had  taken  place  were  arrested  and  taken  to 
Yozgat.  The  four  police  officers  who  remained  in 
the  village  committed  every  outrage  upon  the  de¬ 
fenseless  women,  who  went  in  a  body  to  Yozgat  and 


232  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

marched  through  the  market  calling  upon  the  Arme¬ 
nians  of  the  city  to  avenge  their  wrongs.  “Some  one 
rang  the  bell  of  the  church,  and  a  large  number  of 
Armenians  closed  their  shops  and  collected  at  the 
church  for  consultation.  Military  commander  of  the 
town  heard  this  and  hastened  to  the  church,  where 
he  tried  to  calm  the  people  and  persuaded  them  to 
disperse,  assuring  them  the  guilty  officer  should  be 
punished.  He  was  meeting  with  some  success  when 
the  troops  sent  by  the  governor  arrived.”  The  troops 
had  come  there  for  business.  A  riot  was  created,  and 
a  “hundred  and  twenty-five  Armenians  were  killed 
and  three  hundred  and  forty  wounded,”  as  the  result 
of  this  riot. 

A  commission  was  sent  from  Constantinople  to 
investigate,  and  a  reign  of  terror  in  the  town  was 
the  result.  Under  cover  of  searching  the  houses  of 
all  the  Armenians,  they  were  plundered  and  out¬ 
raged  without  mercy,  and  a  great  number  thrown  into 
prison,  and  tortured  to  force  them  to  give  evidence 
against  one  another. 

I  believe  the  Sultan,  who  had  fashioned  himself 
into  an  angel  of  light  had  chosen  this  method  to  feel 
his  way  and  see  whether  the  guardians  of  his  Chris¬ 
tian  subjects  could  see  through  the  tissue  of  his  false¬ 
hood  and  call  him  to  halt,  or  they  would  be  willing 
for  their  own  conveniences  to  accept  his  construction 
of  suppressing  a  “sedition.” 

The  Representative  Committee  of  the  society  of 
Friends  in  Great  Britain  addressed  a  memorial  to 
the  Earl  of  Kimberley,  the  Secretary  of  State  for 


Massacre  of  the  Christians  233 

Foreign  Affairs.  (See  “Minutes”  of  1894,  held  in 
London.) 

“The  Eepresentative  committee  of  the  society  of 
Friends  in  Great  Britain  have  had  their  attention  re¬ 
cently  directed  to  the  suffering  and  persecuted  condition 
of  the  Armenian  Christian  subjects  of  the  Porte,  and 
have  been  at  some  pains  to  investigate  the  facts  of  the 
case.  They  are  compelled  to  conclude  that  persecution 
of  a  cruel  character  has  been  and  is  being  carried  on 
by  Turkish  officials,  which  is  a  disgrace  to  any  govern¬ 
ment,  and  to  the  age  in  which  we  live. 

“They  desire  to  point  out  that  Article  I,  of  the 
Cyprus  convention  of  June,  1878,  and  Articles  LX  I 
and  LXII  of  the  Treaty  of  Berlin,  July,  1878,  give  this 
country  a  position  of  responsibility  and  authority  upon 
this  subject  which  it  ought  not  to  ignore. 

“The  committee  believes  that,  though  these  engage¬ 
ments  were  made  nearly  fourteen  years  ago,  it  is  not 
alleged  that  their  performance  has  been  even  entered 
upon.  On  the  contrary,  great  numbers  of  the  Christian 
Armenians  have  been  from  time  to  time  arbitrarily  ar¬ 
rested,  and  are  now  in  prison  on  charges  strongly  sus¬ 
pected  of  being  false,  whilst  many  of  the  proceedings 
in  the  courts  of  law  are  clearly  a  mere  travesty  of 
justice.” 

The  following  is  the  part  of  the  answer  to  the 
above  memorial: 

“Sir:  I  am  directed  by  the  Earl  of  Kimberley  to 
acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  letter  of  the  17th 
instant  (April,  1894),  and  the  memorial.  In  reply  I 
am  to  state  that  the  information  in  the  possession  of 
Her  Majesty’s  government  does  not  confirm  the  widely- 
spread  belief  that  the  arrest  and  imprisonment  of  the 


234  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

Armenians  in  Asiatic  Turkey  are  attributable  to  their 
religious  faith.” 

The  great  “assassin”  well  might  have  congratulated 
himself  that  whether  Her  Majesty’s  government  be- 
lieved  it  or  not,  at  least,  declared  to  the  world  that 
the  Armenians  were  not  persecuted  on  account  of 
their  faith. 

An  American  wrote  from  Bitlis  in  the  summer 
of  1893 : — 

The  Armenians  are  still  found  in  goodly  numbers, 
aggregating  nearly  one-third  of  some  eighteen  thou¬ 
sand  inhabitants  in  the  city  (Moosh),  constituting  more 
than  half  in  the  region,  if  we  include  the  155  villages 
of  this  large  plain.  But  so  lamentably  have  they  been 
subdued  by  the  long  oppression  and  misrule ,  that  none 
of  their  old-time  spirit  remains. 

“We  might  point  to  a  village  of  more  than  300  houses 
and  ^,000  inhabitants,  who  live  in  constant  terror  from 
a  little  Kurdish  village  of  desperadoes  not  one-tenth 
as  large !” 

It  is  no  wonder  that  these  poor  and  oppressed 
Armenians  “live  in  constant  terror.”  The  Turkish 
government,  the  author  of  all  injustice  and  cruelty 
in  Armenia,  had  decreed  even  the  mere  possession 
of  arms  a  serious  crime  in  the  case  of  Christians, 
while  the  Kurds,  the  worst  enemies  of  law  and  order 
were  well  equipped  with  all  sorts  of  modern  weapons, 
and  were  enlisted  into  His  Majesty  the  Sultan’s  army. 
They  were,  therefore,  authorized  to  rob,  steal,  and 
kill  the  Armenians. 


Xiv 


THE  MASSACRE  AT  SASSCUH 

SASSOUN  is  the  name  of  a  district  south  of 
the  Plain  of  Moosh.  It  is  a  mountainous 
country,  containing  about  one  hundred  and 
fourteen  villages  and  hamlets.  The  inhabitants, 
about  seventy  thousand  persons,  were  mostly  Arme¬ 
nians,  under  a  resident  Turkish  governor,  called 
Kaimakam. 

The  inhabitants  of  this  region,  like  the  rest  of 
the  people  in  Armenia,  were  agricultural  and  pas¬ 
toral  in  their  occupation,  and  they  were  also  sur¬ 
rounded  by  their  tormentors,  the  Kurds.  It  is  not 
improbable  that  the  inaccessibility  of  the  district 
and  the  number  and  hardiness  of  the  people,  may 
have  impressed  the  Turkish  authorities  with  the  de¬ 
sirability  of  reducing  them  into  a  complete  docility. 
So  when  the  “Hamidieh”  cavalry  regiments  were 
formed  a  few  years  before  they  were  entrusted  with 
this  work. 

The  Kurdish  chiefs,  in  some  districts  in  Armenia, 
were  in  the  habit  of  demanding,  and  extorting  from 
the  people  some  kind  of  tribute.  The  raids  of  the 
Kurds  and  Circassians  were  not  infrequent.  The 
taxes  of  the  government  were  ever  increasing,  and 

235 


236  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

were  always  in  demand.  This  vexatious  condition  of 
affairs  was  sufficient  to  drive  any  peaceful  people  to 
desperation. 

In  one  instance,  when  the  Kurds  had  raided  an 
Armenian  village,  and  carried  away  the  cattle,  the 
villagers  armed  themselves  as  best  as  they  could  and 
pursued  the  raiders,  like  Abraham,1  to  recover  their 
herds.  In  the  encounter  several  Kurds  were  killed. 
It  is  probable  that  some  Armenians  also  were  killed, 
but  that  is  of  no  consequence.  Those  unfortunate 
Kurds  who  suffered  for  their  crime  were  the  members 
of  the  Hamidieh  ?  cavalry.  Then  false  reports  were 
sent  to  Constantinople  that  the  Armenians  were  in 
arms,  and  had  rebelled  against  the  authority  of  the 
government  and  had  killed  some  of  the  soldiers  of 
the  sultan. 

The  sultan,  who  had  been  planning  ever  since  the 
signing  of  the  Treaty  of  Berlin  to  exterminate  the 
Armenians,  seized  upon  this  opportunity,  which  was 
of  his  own  making,  and  at  once  sent  orders  to  Mushir 
at  Erzinghian  to  exterminate  them,  root  and  branch. 
“The  order  as  read  before  the  army,  collected  in  haste 
from  all  the  chief  cities  of  Eastern  Turkey,  was: 
‘Whoever  spares  man,  woman,  or  child,  is  disloyal.’  ” 

The  massacre  took  place  in  the  early  part  of  Sep¬ 
tember,  1894.  The  following  letter,  written  at  Bitlis, 
September  26,  1894,  gives  the  first  evidence: 

“The  troops  have  been  massed  in  the  region  of  the 
large  plain  (of  Moosh)  near  us.  Some  sickness  broke 
out  among  them  which  took  off  two  or  three  victims 


1  Genesis  14:14. 


237 


The  Massacre  at  Sassoun 

every  few  days.  ...  I  suppose  that  one  reason  for 
placing  quarantine  was  to  hinder  the  information  as 
to  what  all  these  troops  were  about  in  that  region. 
There  seems  little  doubt  that  there  has  been  in  that 
region  back  of  Moosh  what  took  place  in  1876  in  Bul¬ 
garia.  The  sickening  details  are  beginning  to  come  in.” 

“Bitlis,  October  9,  1894. 

“All  these  things  (following  facts)  were  related  here 
and  there  by  soldiers  who  took  part  in  the  horrible 
carnage.  Some  of  them,  weeping,  claim  that  the  Kurds 
did  more,  and  declare  that  they  only  obeyed  the  order 
of  others.  It  is  said  one  hundred  fell  to  each  of  them 
to  dispose  of.  No  compassion  was  shown  to  age  or 
sex,  even  by  the  regular  soldiery,  not  even  when  the 
victims  fell  suppliant  at  their  feet.  Six  to  ten  thou¬ 
sand  persons  met  such  a  fate  as  even  the  darkest  ages 
of  darkened  Africa  hardly  witnessed,  for  there  women 
and  tender  babes  might  at  least  have  had  a  chance  of 
a  life  of  slavery,  while  here  womanhood  and  innocency 
were  but  a  mockery  before  the  cruel  lust  that  ended 
its  debauch  by  stabbing  women  to  death  with  the  bayo¬ 
net,  while  tender  babes  were  impaled  with  the  same 
weapon  on  their  dead  mother’s  breast,  or  perhaps  seized 
by  the  hair  to  have  their  heads  lopped  off  with  the 
sword. 

“In  one  place,  three  or  four  hundred  women,  after 
being  forced  to  serve  vile  purposes  by  the  merciless 
soldiery,  were  hacked  to  pieces  by  sword  and  bayonet 
in  the  valley  below.  In  another  place,  some  two  hundred 
weeping  and  wailing  women  begged  for  compassion, 
falling  at  the  commander’s  feet,  but  the  bloodthirsty 
wretch,  after  ordering  their  violation,  directed  his  sol¬ 
diers  to  dispatch  them  in  a  similar  way.  In  another 
place,  some  sixty  young  brides  and  more  attractive  girls 
were  crowded  into  a  church,  and  after  violation  were 
slaughtered,  and  human  gore  was  seen  flowing  from  the 
church  door. 


238  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

“At  another  place  still,  a  large  company  under  the 
leadership  of  their  priest,  fell  down  before  them  beg¬ 
ging  for  compassion,  and  averring  that  they  had  noth¬ 
ing  to  do  with  the  culprits  (?).  But,  all  to  no  pur¬ 
pose.  All  were  called  to  another  place,  and  a  proposal 
was  made  to  several  of  the  more  attractive  women  to 
change  their  faith,  in  which  case  their  lives  were  to  be 
spared.  They  said:  ‘Why  should  we  deny  Christ?  We 
are  no  more  than  these’  (pointing  to  the  mangled  form 
of  their  husbands  and  brothers).  ‘Kill  us  too’;  and 
they  did  so.  A  great  effort  was  made  to  save  one  beauty, 
but  three  or  four  quarreled  over  her,  and  she  sank  down 
like  her  sisters. 

“But  why  prolong  the  sickening  tale?  There  must 
be  a  God  in  heaven  who  will  do  right  in  all  these  mat¬ 
ters,  or  some  of  us  would  lose  faith.  One  or  more 
consuls  have  been  ordered  that  way  to  investigate  the 
matter.  If  the  Christians,  instead  of  the  Turks,  re¬ 
ported  these  things  in  the  city  of  Bitlis,  and  the  region 
where  I  have  been  touring,  the  case  would  be  different. 
But  now  we  are  compelled  to  believe  it. 

“It  seems  safe  to  say  that  forty  villages  were  totally 
destroyed,  and  it  is  probable  that  sixteen  thousand  at 
least  were  killed.  The  lowest  estimate  is  ten  thousand, 
and  many  put  it  much  higher.  This  is  allowing  for 
more  fugitives  than  it  seems  possible  can  have  escaped.” 1 

It  is  useless  now,  after  twenty-three  years,  to  add 
the  testimony  of  the  eye-witnesses  and  fugitives  to 
show  the  barbarity  of  the  soldiers  and  officers  of  the 
sultan,  who  had  been  inadvertently  encouraged  to  go 
on  in  his  career  of  assassination  by  the  declaration 
of  Her  Majesty’s  government  that  the  imprisonments, 


1  Greene,  “The  Armenian  Crisis  in  Turkey,”  pp.  17-24.  (See  fuller 
accounts.)  Published  by  Putnam  and  Sons,  N.  Y.  and  London. 


The  Massacre  at  Sassoun  239 

tortures  and  massacres  of  the  Armenians  were  not 
attributable  to  their  religious  faith. 

It  appears  from  the  following  statement  made  by 
reliable  persons  that  the  sultan  himself  not  only 
ordered  the  massacre,  but  he  prepared  an  occasion  for 
that  deviltry.  “To  what  extent  Armenian  agitation 
has  provoked  the  terrible  massacre  it  is  difficult  to 
determine.  For  a  year  or  more  there  seems  to  have 
been  an  Armenian  from  Constantinople  staying  in 
the  region  as  an  agitator.  For  a  long  time  he  skil¬ 
fully  evaded  his  pursuers,  but  was  at  last  caught 
and  taken  to  Bitlis.  He  demanded  to  be  taken  to 
Constantinople  and  to  the  sultan,  and  it  is  said,  he 
is  now  living  at  the  Capital,  receiving  a  large  salary 
from  the  government.  Evidently  he  has  turned 
state’s  evidence.”  This  mean  creature,  who  ever  he 
was,  was  an  emissary  of  the  Turkish  government. 
He  and  his  mission  were  not  known  to  the  officers 
at  Bitlis.  So  he  demanded  that  he  should  be  taken 
to  Constantinople,  and  to  the  sultan.  There  he  was 
rewarded  for  the  mischief  that  he  was  hired  to  do: 
he  had  paved  the  way  for  a  great  massacre. 

But  by  a  most  influential  paper  of  Great  Britain 
the  crime  at  Sassoun  was  laid  primarily  at  the  door 
of  England: 

“The  crime  at  Sassoun  lies  primarily  at  the  door  of 
England.  It  is  one  of  the  many  disastrous  results  of 
that  ‘peace  with  honor’  which  the  English  government, 
represented  by  Lord  Beaconsfield,  claimed  to  have 
brought  back  from  Berlin  in  1878.  Why  was  it  that 
the  Armenians  at  Sassoun  were  left  as  sheep  before  the 


240  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

butcher?  Why  was  it  that  the  sultan  and  his  pashas 
felt  themselves  perfectly  free  to  issue  what  order  they 
pleased  for  the  massacre  of  the  poor  Armenians?  The 
answer  is,  unfortunately,  only  too  simple.  It  is  because 
England,  at  the  Berlin  Congress,  and  England  alone — 
for  none  of  the  other  powers  took  any  interest  in  the 
matter — destroyed  the  security  which  Russia  had  ex¬ 
torted  from  the  Turkish  government  at  San  Stefano, 
and  substituted  for  the  sterling  guarantee  of  Russia  the 
worthless  paper  money  of  Ottoman  promises/’ 1 

The  Sultan  publicly  endorsed  the  massacre  and 
decorated  Zeki  Pasha,  the  commander  of  the  Fourth 
Army  Corps,  and  sent  four  flags  to  the  Kurdish 
cavalry  regiments. 

Weil  said  a  prominent  American:  “The  sultan’s 
act  is  a  sort  of  insolent  challenge  to  Christendom.” 
Why  should  he  not  challenge  Christendom  ?  There 
were  some  so-called  Christian  rulers  back  of  him. 
Though  the  civilized  world  was  filled  with  righteous 
indignation  at  the  cruelty  and  insolence  of  the  suc¬ 
cessor  of  Mohammed,  yet  he  was  only  true  to  the 
teaching  and  example  of  the  prophet  in  thus  violating 
all  the  laws  of  civilization  and  humanity. 

It  is  the  characteristic  of  the  Armenian  mothers 
to  teach  their  children  to  cling  to  the  religion  of 
Christ,  let  come  what  may.  And  it  is  due  to  this  fact 
that  the  Armenian  nation,  after  having  undergone 
fifteen  centuries  of  persecution  for  their  faith,  still 
exists  as  a  Christian  people.  “The  permanence  of 
the  Armenian  race  has  been  ascribed  to  the  virtue 

1  The  Westminster  Gazette,  December  12,  1894,  reprinted  in  the  Armenia, 
London,  Jan.,  189& 


241 


The  Massacre  at  Sassoun 

of  their  women  and  exceptional  purity  and  stability 
of  their  family  life.” 

The  Turkish  government,  as  might  have  been  ex¬ 
pected,  first  tried  to  conceal  the  facts  or  even  admit 
the  occurrence  of  such  a  massacre.  However,  under 
some  pressure  from  the  British  ambassador?  she  made 
the  following  report : 

Constantinople,  November  16,  1894 — “The  Porte  has 
issued  an  account  of  the  last  Armenian  troubles  in 
Sassoun  district.  The  responsibility  is  laid  upon  the 
Kurdish  brigands,  who  murdered  a  Mussulman  and  com¬ 
mitted  many  other  excesses.  The  Turkish  troops  called 
to  Sassoun  are  said  to  have  restored  order  and  protected 
all  law-abiding  persons.” 

But  when  Sir  Phillip  Currie  sent  Mr.  Hallward’s 
(British  vice-consul  at  Van)  report  of  the  massacre 
to  the  Porte,  the  Turkish  minister  positively  denied 
the  facts,  asserting  that  Mr.  Hallward’s  report  was 
untrue.  The  Porte  further  “stated  outright,  that  he 
(Mr.  Hallward)  had  encouraged  the  Armenians  to 
revolt.”  Another  report  received  from  a  Turkish 
official  source  was  “that  at  Sassoun  all  the  Armenians 
fell  in  open  combat.  The  troops  killed  two  thousand 
of  them.” 

The  friends  of  Christianity  and  humanity,  who 
sincerely  sympathized  with  the  martyred  Christian 
Armenians,  have  learned  that  the  Mohammedan 
rulers  and  the  Turkish  officials  in  the  past  centuries, 
and  in  the  present,  have  given  us  enough  instances 
of  cruelty  to  convince  the  world  that  Mohammedan¬ 
ism  and  barbarism,  if  not  identical,  surely  go  hand 


M. 

242  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

in  hand.  Furthermore,  the  Turkish  government  and 
its  officers  have  shown  to  the  world  that  they  were, 
and  are,  destitute  of  truthfulness.  A  well-informed 
recent  writer  says:  “As  rulers  of  subject  races,  the 
Turks  have  shown  themselves  incapable  of  anything 
except  cruelty  and  corruption.”  “Has  Turkey  one 
whit  improved  in  the  last  five  centuries  ?  Ho.  The 
Porte’s  diplomatists  have  learned  to  tell  falsehoods 
with  more  freedom,  and  more  unblushingly ;  her 
cruelties  and  oppressions  are  practiced  more  vigor¬ 
ously  but  more  secretly;  and  she  is  far  more  steeped 
(her  higher  classes)  in  vice  and  barbarism  than  she 
was  five  hundred  years  ago.”  1 
The  sultan,  with  an  air  of  frankness,  though  com¬ 
pelled  by  the  demand  of  the  British  ambassador,  and 
with  a  desire  to  postpone  immediate  action,  so  that 
the  indignation  of  the  Christian  world  might  subside, 
appointed  a  commission  to  make  an  investigation  of 
the  massacre.  He  depended  too  much  on  the  friendly 
relations  of  the  United  States  with  Turkey,  through 
Minister  Terrell.  The  sultan  asked  the  President  to 
appoint  a  representative  of  this  country;  but  when 
President  Cleveland  appointed  Mr.  Jewett,  consul 
at  Sivas,  to  make  an  independent  investigation  and 
report  to  our  government,  the  sultan  refused  his  ap¬ 
pointment.  How  could  he  allow  such  an  honest  man 
as  Mr.  J ewett  to  make  an  independent  investigation  ? 
Mr.  Jewett  knew  the  corruption  of  the  sultan’s 
officers;  he  had  some  experience  in  the  Marsovan 
trouble;  his  despatches  were  detained  and  his  letters 

1  Norman,  “Armenia  and  the  Campaign  of  1877,”  p.  378. 


The  Massacre  at  Sassoun 


243 


were  meddled  with  by  His  Majesty’s  faithful  ser¬ 
vants,  who,  at  the  head  of  a  Turkish  mob,  had  burned 
the  mission  school. 

The  sultan’s  commission  was  composed  of  the 
Turkish  officers  appointed  by  the  Sultan  and  the 
consuls  of  France,  England  and  Russia,  who  were  in 
Asiatic  Turkey.  The  commission  was  to  decide  who 
was  to  be  examined,  and  whose  testimony  was  to  be 
taken.  The  European  representatives  were  not  privi¬ 
leged  to  make  an  independent  investigation  of  the 
matter.  Such  being  the  case  it  was  evident  what 
might  be  expected  from  the  Commission. 

In  such  a  country  as  Turkey,  where  justice  is  un¬ 
known,  and  for  a  Christian  to  protect  his  property, 
home,  and  life  from  plunder  and  violence  is  consid¬ 
ered  a  “political  offense”  against  the  State,  how 
could  Christians  dare  to  come  forth  and  testify 
against  the  officers  and  the  government,  to  whose 
cruelties  and  murderous  propensities  they  were  again 
to  be  left,  when  the  European  representatives  de¬ 
parted  ?  Even  if  they  did  dare,  the  testimony  of  the 
Christian  is  worthless  against  the  faithful  followers 
of  Mohammed,  who  were  the  defendants  in  the  case. 
Hopelessness  of  the  condition  of  the  Armenians  was 
manifest. 

Hardly  will  it  be  necessary  to  say  that  the  universal 
impression  was  that  the  Sultan’s  investigating  com¬ 
mission  was  a  farce,  and  perilous,  yet  it  suited  the 
sultan  and  his  friends.  St.  Petersburg  (Petrograd), 
December  30,  1894:  “The  Moscow  Gazette  pillories 
the  Sassoun  investigating  Commission  as  a  farce. 


244  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

It  asks  why  the  Powers  do  not  give  the  Porte  so  many 
days  in  which  to  decide  whether  it  will  fulfill  the 
Treaty  of  Berlin,  and  if  an  unsatisfactory  answer 
be  given,  co-operate  to  enforce  the  Treaty.” 

This  leading  journal  revealed  the  mind  of  the 
Russians.  That  England  could  have  had  the  support 
of  Prance.  That,  even,  if  Germany  had  sided  with 
Turkey  (which  she  most  probably  would),  she  would 
then  have  been  half-prepared  than  twenty  years 
later,  at  this  terrible  conflict.  That  the  Powers  would 
have  had  the  universal  moral  support  of  the  whole 
civilized  world,  esperially  at  that  time  (preceding 
the  Balkan  wars),  when  the  Balkan  nations  would 
have  been  in  full  sympathy  with  the  entente,  to  drive 
the  Turk  out  of  Europe. 

But  England’s  delay  of  action  before  the  massacre, 
for  she  was  aware  of  its  coming,  and  her  hesitation 
and  distrust  of  Russia  after  the  massacre,  gave  ample 
time  to  the  crafty  Abdul  Hamid  to  create  discord 
among  the  Powers,  and  he  thus  thwarted  England’s 
belated  attempts  to  redress  the  wrong  that  was  com¬ 
mitted. 

The  following  quotation  from  “Our  Responsibility 
for  Turkey,”  by  the  Duke  of  Argyle,  confirms  the 
above  facts: 

“That  the  Powers  should  have  consented  even  to  allow 
their  representatives  to  spend  time  in  such  attempts 
as  those  [a  commission  to  investigate  the  massacre  and 
a  scheme  or  reform  for  the  Armenian  provinces],  after 
the  experience  of  half  a  century  of  the  hopeless  bad 
faith  and  of  the  cunning  procrastination  of  the  Porte, 


The  Massacre  at  Sassoun  245 

iS  indeed  astonishing.  As  usual,  we  seem  to  have  been 
the  leaders  in  this  farce.  Our  Foreign  Office  boasted 
from  time  to  time  that  we  had  got  all  the  Powers  to 
act  in  line,  which  was,  indeed,  true.  But  what  was 
the  line  doing?  It  was  what  is  called  in  the  language 
of  military  drill  ‘practicing  the  Goose  Step’ — going 
through  the  form  of  taking  steps,  but  not  advancing 
one  inch  towards  any  practical  result.  The  whole  time 
occupied  by  Lord  Eosebery’s  Government,  after  they 
first  heard  of  the  impending  dangers — which  was  at 
least  eleven  months  from  the  beginning  of  August,  1894, 
to  the  middle  of  July,  1895 — was  wasted  in  this  idle 
and  grotesque  procedure.  And  yet  there  really  had  been 
some  encouraging  symptoms  of  the  disposition  of  Eus- 
sia,  if  we  had  taken  earnest  and  immediate  advantage 
of  them.  And  not  less  really  had  we  very  early  noticed 
of  what  was  coming  from  the  Turks.  So  early  as  Sep¬ 
tember  10,  we  knew  that  they  were  actually  engaging 
a  Kurdish  chief  of  notoriously  bad  character  to  com¬ 
mand  three  regiments  of  Kurdish  irregular  cavalry, 
as  part  of  the  forces  destined  for  putting  down  what 
they  were  pleased  to  call  the  insurrection.” 

Here  we  also  add  Lord  Bryce’s  words  which  are 
emphatically  true : 

“In  the  field  of  Eastern  politics  generally  the  con¬ 
spicuous  result  has  been  the  failure — the  complete 
humiliating  and  irretrievable  failure— of  the  traditional 
policy  pursued  by  England  of  supporting  the  Turk 
against  Eussia.” 1 

An  Armenian  deputation  called  on  the  late  Hon. 
W.  E.  Gladstone  on  the  occasion  of  his  birthday  (De¬ 
cember  29,  1894).  He  delivered  an  address  on  the 


1  Bryce,  "Transcaucasia  and  Ararat,”  p.  522,  4th  ed. 


246  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

Sassoun  massacre.  A  few  paragraphs  of  his  speech 
may  be  here  reproduced: 

“The  history  of  Turkey  is  a  sad  and  painful  one. 
...  I  have  lived  to  see  the  empire  of  Turkey  in 
Europe  reduced  to  less  than  one-half  of  what  it  was 
when  I  was  born,  and  why?  Simply  because  of  its 
misdeeds,  and  the  great  record  written  by  the  hand  of 
Almighty  God  against  this  injustice ,  lust ,  and  most 
abominable  cruelty.  If,  happily  (I  speak,  hoping 
against  hope),  the  reports  be  disproved  or  mitigated, 
let  us  thank  God.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  they  be  estab¬ 
lished,  it  will  more  than  ever  stand  before  the  world 
that  there  is  a  lesson,  however  severe  it  may  be,  that 
can  teach  certain  people  the  duty  of  prudence  and  the 
necessity  of  observing  the  laws  of  decency,  humanity, 
and  justice.  ...  If  the  facts  are  established,  it 
should  be  written  in  letters  of  iron  upon  the  records  of 
the  world  that  a  government  which  could  be  guilty  of 
countenancing  and  covering  up  such  atrocities  is  a  dis¬ 
grace  to  Mohamet,  the  prophet;  a  disgrace  to  civiliza¬ 
tion  at  large,  and  a  disgrace  to  mankind.  ...  I  have 
counseled  you  to  be  still  and  keep  your  judgments  in 
suspense;  but  as  the  evidence  grows  the  case  darkens 
and  my  hopes  dwindle  and  decline;  and  as  long  as  I 
have  voice,  it  will  be  uttered  on  behalf  of  humanity  and 
truth.” 1 

Mr.  Gladstone’s  address  on  the  Bulgarian  massacre 
of  1876  was  reprinted  in  the  Christian  Register, 
Boston,  Mass.,  Dec.  1,  1894.  I  quote  the  following 
passage  from  it: 

“There  is  not  a  criminal  in  a  European  jail,  there 
is  not  a  cannibal  in  the  South  Sea  Islands,  whose  in- 


1  The  London  Times,  Weekly  Edition,  Jan.  14,  1895. 


The  Massacre  at  Sassoun 


247 


dignation  would  not  arise  and  overboil  at  the  recital 
of  that  which  has  been  done;  which  has  too  late  been 
examined,  but  which  remains  unavenged;  which  has 
left  behind  all  the  foul  and  all  the  fierce  passions  that 
produced  it ;  and  which  may  again  spring  up,  in  another 
murderous  harvest,  from  the  soil  soaked  and  reeked 
with  blood,  and  in  the  air,  tainted  with  every  imaginable 
deed  of  crime  and  shame.  That  such  things  should  be 
done  once  is  a  damning  disgrace  to  the  'portion  of  our 
race  which  did  them ;  that  a  door  should  be  left  open 
for  their  ever-so -barely  possible  repetition  would  spread 
that  shame  over  the  whole 

The  door  in  Bulgaria  was  closed,  but  a  wide  door 
was  left  open  in  Armenia,  and  England  made  herself 
a  defender  of  the  Turk  that  he  may  do  as  he  pleases.1 

According  to  the  following  despatch  after  six  or 
more  months  of  dilly-dallying,  the  European  dele¬ 
gates  to  the  Commission  quitted  their  Turkish  col¬ 
leagues  in  disgust. 

Constantinople,  June  10,  1895. — “The  Moosh  Com¬ 
mission  closed  on  Friday,  so  far  as  the  work  of  the 
European  delegates  is  concerned.  They  were  compelled 
to  tell  the  Turkish  delegates  that  they  could  have  noth¬ 
ing  more  to  do  with  them.  From  the  first  the  attitude 
of  the  Turkish  delegates  has  been  invariably  and  increas¬ 
ingly  dishonest.  According  to  the  statements  of  those 
interested  in  the  workings  of  the  commission,  the  rep¬ 
resentatives  of  the  sultan  have  not  manifested  honor, 
truth,  or  decency.  They  have  made  no  efforts  to  deter¬ 
mine  the  cause  of  the  outrages  in  Armenia. 

“The  rupture  between  the  Turkish  and  European 
commissioners  was  caused  by  the  refusal  of  the  Turks, 

1  Greene,  “The  Armenian  Crisis  in  Turkey,”  pp.  129,  130.  (See  the 
entire  address  quoted  by  Greene.) 


248  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

on  purely  farcical  grounds,  to  hear  important  witnesses 
upon  matters  pertaining  to  the  questions  at  issue.  It 
was  evident  that  the  Turks  were  afraid  that  the  tissue 
of  falsehoods  that  they  have  thrown  around  the  situa¬ 
tion  in  Armenia  would  be  broken  down.  ...” 

The  following  is  the  report  of  the  European  dele¬ 
gates  of  the  Commission: 

“We  [Wilbert,  Shipley,  and  Pyevalsky,  the  French, 
English  and  Russian  consuls]  have,  in  our  report,  given 
it  as  our  conviction,  arrived  at  from  the  evidence  brought 
before  us,  that  the  Armenians  were  massacred  without 
distinction  of  age  or  sex;  and  indeed,  for  a  period  of 
some  three  weeks,  viz. :  from  the  12th  of  August  to  the 
4th  of  September  (1894  0.  S.),  it  is  not  too  much  to 
say  that  the  Armenians  were  absolutely  hunted  like 
wild  beasts,  being  killed  wherever  they  were  met;  and 
if  the  slaughter  was  not  greater,  it  was,  we  believe,  solely 
owing  to  the  vastness  of  the  mountain  ranges  of  that 
district,  which  enabled  the  people  to  scatter,  and  so 
facilitated  their  escape.  In  fact,  and  speaking  with  a 
full  sense  of  responsibility,  we  are  compelled  to  say  that 
the  conviction  has  forced  itself  upon  us  that  it  was  not 
so  much  the  capture  of  the  agitator  Mourad,  or  the 
suppression  of  a  pseudo-revolt,  as  the  extermination, 
pure  and  simple,  of  the  Gheligrizan  and  Talori  dis¬ 
tricts !’ 1 

Before  closing  this  chapter  I  quote  one  more  refer¬ 
ence  to  the  Sassoun  massacre  and  the  work  of  the 
commission  from  Dr.  J.  Lepsius  of  Berlin,  whose 
book  was  published  in  1896,  under  the  title  of 
“Armenia  and  Europe  ” 

1  Blue-Book,  Turkey,  No.  1,  1895,  p.  206. 


The  Massacre  at  Sassoun 


£49 


“Turkish.  Commission  was  appointed  to  inquire  into 
occurrences  which  took  place  at  Sassoun  in  the  autumn 
of  1894,  when  in  the  massacre  in  which  Turkish  sol¬ 
diers  took  part,  twenty-seven  Christian  villages  were 
destroyed  and  thousands  of  Armenians  were  murdered. 
Delegates  from  the  English,  French,  and  Eussian  con¬ 
sulates  were  appointed  to  attend  the  Commission.  At 
the  second  sitting  held  at  Moosh,  on  January  26,  1895, 
they  made  what  according  to  European  ideas  of  justice 
was  the  natural  request  that  the  commissioners,  before 
inquiring  into  any  other  matter,  should  take  evidence 
as  to  the  massacre  of  Armenians  by  Turks.  The  com¬ 
missioners  (Turkish)  however  alleged  that  according 
to  their  instructions  from  the  Porte  they  were  only  to 
inquire  “into  the  criminal  proceeding  of  the  Armenian 
brigands,”  they  denied  that  there  had  been  any  massacre 
of  Armenians,  and  rejected  the  request  of  the  delegates. 
The  commission  sat  from  January  24  to  July  21  at 
Moosh.  Some  fifteen  to  thirty  miles  from  the  seat  of 
the  massacre,  and  held  one  hundred  and  eight  sittings. 
They  declined  to  listen  to  the  Christian  witnesses 
brought  forward  by  the  delegates  and  would  only  accept 
the  testimony  of  Turks,  who  had  been  carefully  in¬ 
structed  to  give  such  evidence  as  would  prove  that  the 
Armenians  were  alone  to  blame.  Witnesses  who  ven¬ 
tured  to  give  evidence  in  favor  of  the  Armenians  atoned 
for  their  rashness  by  immediate  imprisonment.  The 
consular  delegates  at  last  refused  to  have  anything  more 
to  do  with  this  farce;  they  therefore  went  to  Sassoun, 
and  by  evidence  there  obtained  established  the  terrible 
facts  and  the  innocence  of  the  peaceful  Armenian  popu¬ 
lation.”  1 


1Lepsius,  "Armenia  and  Europe,"  published  in  Berlin,  1896.  I  quote 
from  The  New  Armenia,  reprinted  June  15,  1916. 


XV 

THE  MASSACRE  OF  1895-6 

WE  must  beg  the  reader  of  the  following 
statements  to  remember  that  the  Arme¬ 
nian  massacres,  in  which  100,000  inno¬ 
cent  people  have  perished,  were  directed  against  a 
peaceful  and  defenceless  nation. — J.  Lepsius.” 

While  the  investigating  commission  was  carrying 
on  its  work  in  the  usual  Turkish  fashion,  the  British, 
French,  and  Russian  governments  drew  out  a  scheme 
of  reforms  for  Armenia  and  submitted  it  to  the  Porte 
through  their  ambassadors  at  Constantinople  on  May 
11,  1895. 

According  to  the  press  despatches  the  brief  outline 
of  this  scheme  contained  the  following  points: 

1.  The  appointment  of  a  High  Commissioner  who 
is  to  be  a  Christian. 

2.  The  governors  and  vice-governors  of  Van,  Erz- 
roum,  Sivas,  Bitlis,  Kharput,  and  Trebizond  be 
Christians  or  Mohammedans  according  to  the  inclina¬ 
tion  of  the  population ;  but  either  the  governor  or  the 
vice-governor  to  be  a  Christian,  and  the  appointments 
are  to  be  confirmed  by  the  Powers. 

3.  General  amnesty  for,  and  release  of,  all  political 
prisoners. 


250 


The  Massacre  of  1895-6 


251 


4.  The  appointment  of  a  Commission  to  sit  at  Con¬ 
stantinople,  charged  with  the  application  of  the  re¬ 
forms  and  working  in  concert  with  the  High  Commis¬ 
sioner. 

5.  Complete  changes  will  he  made  in  judicial  sys¬ 
tem — tortures  will  be  abolished. 

6.  The  prisoners  will  he  under  surveillance. 

7.  The  police  will  be  composed  of  Christians  and 
Turks  equally. 

8.  The  local  and  not  State  officials  are  to  collect 
the  taxes  and  enough  money  is  to  be  retained,  before 
it  is  forwarded  to  Constantinople,  to  pay  the  expenses 
of  the  local  administration. 

9.  The  inhabitants  of  Sassoun  shall  be  paid  the 
amount  of  their  losses. 

10.  The  Kurds  shall  be  disarmed. 

11.  The  laws  against  compulsory  conversions  to 
Islam  will  be  strictly  enforced. 

Supposing  that  the  above  synopsis  of  the  reforms 
demanded  of  the  Porte  is  true — though  these  reforms 
were  not  officially  published — the  reader  can  easily 
see  that  the  source  of  the  Armenian  trouble  starts 
from  the  head  of  the  government  and  runs  through 
all  its  branches  down  to  the  very  insignificant,  yet 
well-armed  peasant,  Kurd  who  may  happen  to  be  a 
member  of  the  Hamilieh  regiment. 

The  evident  reason  also  why  the  Powers  did  not 
wait  for  the  report  of  the  commission  and  then  pre¬ 
sent  their  scheme  of  reforms  was  three-fold,  namely, 
they  had  all  the  facts  with  regard  to  the  massacre 
at  Sassoun  in  their  possession;  they  were  aware  of 


252  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

the  dilatory  manner  the  indolent  Tufk  generally 
moves,  and  they  would  thus  save  time  and  prevent 
the  unspeakable  Turk  from  committing  something 
worse.  They,  however,  signally  failed  in  all  these. 
If  they  ever  intended  to  accomplish  anything,  they 
indeed  did  not  succeed,  and  still  worse,  they  provoked 
the  beast. 

After  a  prolonged  pressure  had  been  brought  to 
bear  on  the  sultan  by  the  British,  Trench,  and  Rus¬ 
sian  governments  he  seemed  to  give  up  his  opposition 
to  their  demands  and  in  the  autumn  in  order  to 
pacify  England  for  England,  to  her  credit,  was  the 
leading  power  that  took  real  interest  in  the  matter, 
realizing  her  greater  responsibility  in  the  case — the 
sultan  wrote  to  Lord  Salisbury  and  gave  his  word 
that  the  reforms  should  be  literally  and  immediately 
cairied  out.  Meanwhile  oppressions  and  imprison¬ 
ments  were  still  going  on  as  usual. 

St.  Paul  says,  “Render  to  all  their  dues  .  .  .  ” 
With  all  sincerity  and  truthfulness  we  must  say  that 
Abdul  Hamid  II,  the  ex-Sultan  of  Turkey,  was  the 
shrewdest,  the  most  wicked  and  most  diabolical  ruler 
that  ever  sat  on  the  Ottoman  throne.  He  was  sure 
that  there  was  no  concert  among  the  signatory  powers. 
The  Triple  Alliance,  then  made  up  of  Italy,  Austria- 
Hungary,  and  Germany,  was  not  opposing  his  policy. 
More  than  this,  his  dear  friend,  the  ruler  and  the 
press  of  Germany  had  suppressed  the  true  nature  of 
the  trouble  in  Turkey,  and  had  created  in  Germany 
the  false  impression  that  the  Turkish  government 
was  at  the  point  of  being  overthrown  by  the  Arme- 


The  Massacre  of  1895-6  253 

nians  who  were  in  revolt;  that  the  sultan  was  justly 
trying  to  suppress  this  rebellion  and  maintain  his 
divine  right  to  rule. 

Dr.  J.  Lepsius,  from  whose  work — Armenia  and 
Europe  we  quoted  in  the  preceding  chapter,  and 
whose  words  stand  at  the  head  of  this  chapter,  is  the 
author  of  the  following  statement:  “Truth  about 
Armenia  must  be  made  known  at  last.  During  the 
past  nine  months  (1896)  the  German  press  has  been 
flooded  with  statements  not  merely  biased,  but,  as 
we  shall  be  able  to  show,  false ,  and  deliberately  in¬ 
tended  to  deceive  Europe.  Care  has  been  taken  that 
the  conduct  of  the  so-called  ^rebellious’  Armenians 
should  be  set  forth  in  the  strongest  light  as  the  cause 
of  all  the  mischief,  and  at  the  same  time  the  story  of 
how  a  great  Christian  nation  has  been  subjected  to 
massacre  and  pillage,  and  how  multitudes  have  been 
compelled  to  abjure  their  faith,  is  practically  un¬ 
known  in  Germany.” 

Thus  the  sultan  was  sure  of  the  support  of  Ger¬ 
many.  Then  again,  he  was  not  quite  sure  whether 
England  could  hold  with  her  the  other  two  powers, 
Erance  and  Russia.  So  he  took  the  traditional  course 
pursued  by  his  predecessors,  to  move  slowly,  so  far 
as  the  reforms  were  concerned,  but  the  work  of  the 
extermination  of  the  Armenian  nation  must  by  no 
means  be  slackened ;  every  opportunity  must  be 
seized,  and  if  no  opportunity  was  forthcoming,  one 
must  be  devised  for  excuses  of  slaughter. 

In  Armenia  and  Asia  Minor,  where  most  of  the 
Armenians  used  to  live,  there  was  and  is  hardly  any 


254  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

industry.  Though  a  rich  country  in  mineral  and 
agricultural  products,  yet  on  account  of  the  absence 
of  good  roads  and  markets,  and  of  robberies  and  mis¬ 
rule,  all  efforts  toward  securing  a  livelihood  have 
been  paralyzed.  Money  consequently  has  always  been 
scarce.  Continual  demand  of  the  government  for 
taxes — sometimes  a  year  in  advance — the  exactions 
of  the  tax-collectors  and  petty  officials  keep  the  Ar¬ 
menians  in  abject  poverty  and  distress.  For  these 
reasons  thousands  of  young  men  flock  to  Constanti¬ 
nople  to  earn  money  to  support  their  families  and  to 
meet  these  demands. 

These  men  have  been  hearing  of  heartrending 
calamities  which  had  fallen  upon  their  families. 
Some  had  heard  of  the  confiscation  of  their  properties, 
some  of  their  young  wives  being  abducted,  some  of 
their  sisters  being  violated,  and  their  aged  parents 
and  tender  children  butchered.  A  year  had  passed 
since  the  massacre  at  Sassoun,  yet  the  so-called  Chris¬ 
tian  powers,  under  whose  protection  the  Christian 
subjects  of  the  sultan  were  placed  by  the  Treaty  of 
Berlin,  had  apparently  done  nothing.  But  by  at¬ 
tempting  to  do  something  and  failing,  they  had 
actually  aggravated  their  misery. 

An  open  enemy  is  not  as  implacable  as  a  secret 
foe.  The  Armenians  may  have  also  thought  that  they 
would,  by  petitioning  the  sultan,  emphasize  the 
pressure  of  the  Powers  for  the  fulfillment  of  the 
promises  of  reform  contained  in  the  Treaty  of  Berlin. 
Anyhow  the  Armenians  had  prepared  a  petition  to 
present  to  the  grand  vizier  in  which  their  complaints 


255 


The  Massacre  of  1895-6 

and  requests  were  set  forth.  The  authorities  were 
aware  of  the  matter  and  had  instructed  the  police 
to  prevent  the  presentation  of  the  petition  and  had 
prepared  also  a  counter  demonstration  against  the 
petitioners  by  a  large  number  of  softas  and  Turks. 
On  September  30th,  1895,  the  petitioners  started 
towards  the  Sublime  Porte  with  their  petition  to  pre¬ 
sent  it  to  the  grand  vizier.  The  police  ordered  them 
to  disperse  and  the  softas  and  Turks  attacked  them. 
The  peaceful  procession  of  the  petitioners  was  turned 
into  a  riot,  and  some  five  or  six  hundred  Armenians 
were  killed,  some  of  them  were  arrested  and  taken  to 
prisons  and  were  there  stabbed  to  death. 

The  following  letter,  written  by  an  American  resi¬ 
dent  in  Constantinople,  who  had  ample  opportunity 
to  verify  the  facts,  will  suffice  to  show  how  the  sultan 
could  and  did  create  opportunities  to  slaughter  the 
Christians : 

“It  was  very  astonishing  that  the  Turks  were  so 
foolish  as  to  resist  the  efforts  of  the  Armenians  to 
present  their  petition  to  the  sublime  Porte.  It  was 
contrary  to  the  usage  of  the  country  to  do  so,  and  could 
only  be  explained  as  a  wilful  act  of  hostility  to  the 
Armenians ;  unless  the  Armenians  had  broken  the  peace 
before  the  Turks  attacked  them— which  is  denied.  When 
the  grand  vizier,  Said  Pasha,  told  the  sultan  that  the 
demonstration  was  to  take  place  and  asked  for  his  will, 
the  sultan  committed  the  matter  to  the  grand  vizier 
and  the  minister  of  the  interior  to  arrange  together, 
giving  them  full  powers.  They  decided  to  allow  the 
petitioners  to  present  their  grievances,  merely  taking 
the  precaution  to  have  troops  in  the  neighborhood,  out 


256  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

of  sight,  but  so  posted  as  to  prevent  any  surprise  in  case 
the  Armenians  should  prove  to  be  riotous.  All  was 
ready,  and  the  Grand  Yizier  was  just  setting  out  for 
the  Porte  to  receive  the  Armenians,  when  he  was  in¬ 
formed  by  the  sultan  that  he  (the  sultan)  had  decided 
against  the  demonstration,  and  had  already  ordered  his 
troops  to  resist  and  disperse  any  groups  of  Armenians 
that  might  appear.  So  the  whole  responsibility  for  the 
carnage  falls  upon  the  foolish  (wicked)  decision  to 
override  the  plans  of  the  ministers.” 

If  in  the  capital  of  the  empire,  in  the  presence  of 
the  ambassadors  of  the  Powers  who  were  demanding 
the  protection  of  the  Christians  from  cruelty  and 
oppression,  such  a  barbarism  can  be  permitted,  what 
could  prevent  the  bloodthirsty  wretch  from  inaugu¬ 
rating  a  general  slaughter  of  the  defenseless  Arme¬ 
nians  throughout  his  dominions  ?  Thus  this  terrible 
occurrence  on  the  30th  of  September,  of  1895,  was 
the  signal  for  hundreds  of  other  massacres  which 
followed  one  after  the  other,  not  only  in  the  provinces 
where  the  reforms  were  expected  to  make  the  people 
happy,  but  throughout  the  empire.  And  not  only 
over  one  hundred  thousand  Christians  were  in  the 
most  frightful  manner  slaughtered  and  burnt,  but 
two  or  three  times  as  many  more  were  left  in  such 
destitution,  that  they  had  to  choose  between  starva¬ 
tion  and  apostasy.  “Over  the  most  fruitful  provinces 
of  the  Turkish  Empire,  a  country  as  large  as  Ger¬ 
many  a  stream  of  blood  and  desolation  was  poured 
forth  which  was  intended  to  destroy  a  whole  Chris¬ 
tian  people.  .  .  .  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the 
Turks  enjoyed  the  work  of  massacre,  and  carried  it 


The  Massacre  of  1895-6  257 

out  with  admirable  exactness,  according  to  a  previ¬ 
ously  arranged  programme,  with  processions,  blowing 
of  trumpets,  and  prayers  from  the  mullahs,  who  from 
the  highest  minarets  invoked  the  blessing  of  Allah 
on  the  butchery.”  1 

According  to  press  reports,  the  scheme  of  reforms 
submitted  by  Great  Britain,  Prance,  and  Russia  to 
the  Turkish  government  on  the  11th  of  May,  1895, 
was  signed  in  due  form  and  on  the  17th  of  October, 
1895,  handed  over  to  the  ambassadors  of  the  powers. 

Before  this,  however,  the  general  massacres  had 
begun. 


The  massacres  took  place  in  the  following  places  and  times; 


Constantinople . 

500 

Trebizond . 

1,100 

Ak  Hissar . . 

45 

Gumush  Khana . 

350 

Baiburt . 

800 

Erzingian . 

2,000 

Bitlis . 

3000 

Palu . 

650 

Diarbikir . 

3,000 

Kara  Hissar . 

. .  .Oct.  25,  1895 

800 

Ersorum . 

1,500 

Boulouik  and  Khnus. . 

. .  .Oct.  30,  1895 

700 

Tomzara . . 

. .  .Oct.  28  and  Nov.  8 

700 

Malatia . 

5,000 

Arabkir . 

. .  .Nov.  6,  1895 

4,000 

Harput 2 . 

2,000 

1  Lepsius,  “Armenia  and  Europe.”  See  The  New  Armenia  of  June  15 
1916,  New  York. 

2  The  Public  Ledger  (Philadelphia),  Feb.  17,  1896,  had  the  following 
editorial  comment  on  a  local  Turkish  official  report:  “What  purports  to  be 
an  official  list  of  Turkish  outrages  in  the  Province  of  Harpoot  and  some 
of  the  neighboring  villages,  prepared  by  a  local  Turkish  authority,  is  pub¬ 
lished.  The  total  number  killed  is  given  as  39,234,  and  the  number  of 
destitute  as  94,770.  The  account  is  somewhat  mysterious,  as  it  do#*"’ 


258 


Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 


Gurin . Nov.  10,  1895  2,000 

Sivas . Nov.  12,  1895  1,500 

Moosh . Nov.  15,  1895  350 

Marsovan . Nov.  15,  1895  125 

Aintab . Nov.  15,  1895  400 

Marash . Nov.  18,  1895  1,000 

Zilleh . Nov.  26,  1895  300 

Caesarea . Nov.  30,  1895  400 

Urfa . Oct.  28,  and  Dec. 

28-29  10,000 

Biredjik . Jan.  1,  1896  900 

Van 

Niksar  • . June,  1896  20,000 

Eghin  , 


Constantinople . Aug.  26-27,  1896  10,000 

The  number  of  persons  killed,  about . 100,000 

The  number  of  houses  and  shops  burnt .  12,000 

The  number  of  houses  plundered .  47,000 

The  persons  forced  to  accept  Mohammedanism  49,000 
The  number  of  persons  left  destitute . 400,000  1 

It  should  not  he  considered  that  the  number  given 
as  killed  are  exact,  for  some  of  those  reports  have  gone 
through  the  Ambassadors’  revisions,  and  some  places 
where  massacres  have  taken  place  have  never  been 
noticed,  because  there  was  no  foreigner,  and  no  native 
that  was  able  to  report  was  left  alive. 

“From  that  date  (October  8,  1895)  until  the  end  of 
the  3^ear  the  wave  of  massacre  swept  over  the  six  eastern 

not  show  for  what  purpose  it  was  made,  nor  does  the  report  state  how  a 
matter,  usually  so  jealously  guarded,  came  to  be  made  public,  but  it  is 
authoritative,  and  the  details  are  more  sickening  than  the  bare  aggregate, 
as  they  show  the  number  of  persons  burned  to  death;  the  number  wbo 
perished  from  hunger  and  cold;  the  number  of  women  outraged;  the 
number  of  forcible  conversions  to  Islam;  the  number  forcibly  married  to 
Moslems,  etc.  It  is  a  chapter  more  worthy  of  the  Dark  Ages  than  modern 
civilization,  but  modern  civilization  does  not  seem  able  to  prevent  its 
fepetition  at  the  pleasure  of  the  Turk.” 

1  Bliss,  “Turkey  and  the  Armenian  Atrocities,”  pp.  553-4. 


i 


The  Massacre  of  1895-6  259 

provinces,  engulfing  the  villages,  towns,  and  cities  where 
Armenians  lived;  innumerable  houses,  and  schools,  and 
churches  were  burned,  a  vast  amount  of  property  was 
stolen  or  destroyed,  a  great  number  of  women  and  girls 
were  carried  off  by  Turks  and  Kurds,  multitudes  of 
people  were  forced  to  accept  the  Mohammedan  religion, 
100,000  Armenian  men  and  boys  were  slain,  and  500,000 
Armenian  women  and  children  were  reduced  to  beg¬ 
gary.  Everywhere  it  was  understood  by  the  Moham¬ 
medan  population  that  they  were  authorized  by  order 
from  Constantinople,  to  kill  all  Armenian  men  and  boys 
and  seize  their  property.  In  many  places  soldiers  and 
officers  joined  with  the  mob  and  shared  the  plunder. 
The  massacres  were  perpetrated  in  contempt  and  defi¬ 
ance  of  Europe;  they  were  an  expression  of  Turkish 
wrath  and  vengeance;  they  were  in  short,  an  attempt 
to  end  the  Armenian  question  by  the  destruction  of  the 
Armenians.  Europe  raised  the  hope  of  the  Christian 

population  of  Turkey,  and  Europe  left  them  to  their 
fate.”  1 

We  had  the  pleasure,  before,  of  quoting  from  the 
work  of  Dr.  J.  Lepsius  of  Berlin,  u Armenia  and 
Europe  ”  We  are  tempted  to  quote  more  for  a  few 
reasons:  First,  because  he  so  fearlessly  exposed  the 
studied  efforts  of  the  official  press  of  Germany  to 
mislead  the  people  with  regard  to  the  true  nature 
of  the  condition  of  the  Armenians  who  were  mas¬ 
sacred  for  their  Christian  faith,  even  though  it  was 
made  to  appear  that  the  Turkish  government  was 
endeavoring  to  suppress  a  revolution  which  did  not 
exist.  Second,  because  of  his  courageous  exposition 
of  the  criminal  indifference  of  Europe  to  abandon  the 
defenseless  Armenians  to  the  ruthless  and  barbarous 

1  Greene,  "  Leavening  the  Levant, f  \  p.  30. 


260  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

tendencies  of  the  Turks.  Third,  because  of  his  faith¬ 
fully  exposing  and  showing  the  true  nature  of  the 
followers  of  Mohammed,  the  absurdity,  falsehood, 
and  deviltry  of  the  Turkish  government’s  excuse  of 
putting  down  a  revolt. 

“The  Turkish  people,  equipped  and  armed  by  the  au¬ 
thorities,  were  delighted  to  take  their  share  in  the  work 
of  murder  side  by  side  with  the  military,  the  Radifs 
(Reserves),  the  Zaptiehs  (Gendarmes),  and  the  lately 
formed  Kurdish  Irregulars,  called  the  Hamidieh-Regi- 
ment  after  the  reigning  sultan.  Every  one  was  in  the 
best  humor.  ...  A  savage  and  murderous  spirit  took 
possession  of  the  people.  And  what  else  could  be  ex¬ 
pected?  Here  an  officer  urged  them  on  with  the  cry, 
‘Down  with  the  Armenians,  it  is  the  sultan’s  will !’ 
Here  a  Vali  exhorted  them  to  ‘Look  sharp !  Kill !  Plun¬ 
der  !  and  pray  for  the  sultan  P  What  inducement  had 
they  to  cease  from  murder  or  from  prey !  The  reward 
of  piety  lay  before  their  eyes,  for  all  that  they  could 
seize  and  carry  away  was  to  be  their  own.  .  .  .  The 
monotonous  work  of  dragging  hundreds  of  defenceless 
Armenians  out  of  their  homes  and  hiding-places  merely 
to  behead,  stab,  throttle,  hang,  or  beat  them,  soon  palled. 
The  merry  mob  wanted  variety.  Simple  murder  became 
dull,  and  the  business  must  now  be  made  more  amusing. 
How  would  it  do  to  light  a  fire  and  roast  the  wounded 
at  it?  To  gibbet  a  few  head-do wnwards ?  Drive  nails 
into  others  ?  Or  tie  fifty  of  them  together  and  fire  into 
the  coil?  .  .  .  Putting  out  eyes  and  cutting  off  ears 
and  noses  was  a  special  accomplishment.  Christian 
priests  who  refused  to  become  Mohammedans  were  con¬ 
sidered  particularly  worthy  of  this  fate.  .  .  .  Petro¬ 
leum  and  kerosene  were  at  hand.  It  is  true  that  the 
authorities  intended  them  to  be  used  only  for  the  pur¬ 
pose  of  burning  down  houses  and  destroying  grain.  But 
why  not  put  them  to  other  and  more  useful  purposes  ? 


The  Massacre  of  1895-6  261 

‘  There  was  a  certain  photographer,  by  the  name 
Mardiros  (martyr,  or  witness),  who  had  a  fine  beard, 
petroleum  was  poured  over  it  and  set  on  fire.  Several 
Christians  were  gathered  together,  kerosene  poured  over 
them,  and,  as  they  burnt,  others  were  thrown  into  the 
fumes  and  suffocated.  A  woman  with  luxuriant  hair 
had  gunpowder  sprinkled  on  it,  and  her  head  was  blown 
off.  In  a  monastery  at  Kaghtzorhayatz,  an  Effendi, 
by  name  Abdullah,  had  a  young  man  and  a  girl  placed 
close  together  and  with  one  stroke  cut  off  both  their 
heads.  But  sword  and  fire  can  be  dispensed  with.  The 
Kurdish  Sheikh,  Djevher  of  Gabars,  proved  this  by  bind¬ 
ing  two  brothers  with  ropes  and  pegging  them  to  the 
ground  with  stakes.  .  .  .  The  baker  in  Kesserek,  who 
had  already  murdered  ninety-seven  Armenians,  which 
he  proved  by  exhibiting  their  ears  and  noses,  declared 
that  he  would  not  rest  until  he  had  brought  up  the  num¬ 
ber  to  one  hundred.  But  he  found  his  master  in  Hadji 
Bego  of  Tadem,  who  had  butchered  more  than  a  hundred 
Christians,  and  who,  as  a  sign  of  his  prowess,  cut  a 
woman  into  four  pieces  and  put  them  on  posts  to  public 
view.  The  butcher  of  Aintab,  who  stuck  the  heads  of  / 
six  Armenians  on  his  spit,  was  outdone  by  the  Turk  at 
Subaschigulp,  who  slaughtered  Armenians  like  sheep 
and  hung  their  bodies  on  meat-hooks.  The  people  of 
Trebizond  brought  out  the  humor  of  the  thing;  they 
shot  Adam,  the  Armenian  butcher,  and  his  son,  cut 
them  in  pieces,  stuck  the  limbs  separately  on  sticks  and 
offered  them  for  sale  to  passers-by:  ‘Who  will  buy  an 
arm,  a  leg,  feet  or  hands?  Cheap!  Who  will  buy?5 
But  innocence  must  be  spared.  The  Sultan  had  com¬ 
manded  that  Christians  under  seventeen  should  not  be 
killed.  But  who  heeds  such  caution?  .  .  .  The  Mo¬ 
hammedans  of  a  large  village  in  Marash,  saved  at  least 
one  small  child  from  this  fate  by  throwing  it  into  the 
fire. 

“In  Baiburt  the  destroyers  were  merciful  enough  in 


262  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

fourteen  houses  to  burn  the  babies  with  their  mothers. 
Ohannes  Avakian,  a  rich  civilian  of  Trebizond,  offered 
the  raging  mob  all  his  possessions  if  they  would  spare 
his  family  and  himself.  His  three-year-old  child  was 
in  his  arms.  Both  were  murdered  before  the  eyes  of 
the  mother  and  the  other  children,  and  then  the  crowd 
seized  the  spoil.  A  valiant  Turk  thinks  nothing  of 
strangling  children  on  the  knees  of  their  mothers.  To 
play  at  ball  with  a  baby,  and  toss  it  from  one  bayonet 
to  another  before  its  mother’s  eyes  seemed  pleasant  sport 
for  the  soldiers  of  Bitlis.  .  .  .  Although  it  is  a  fact 
that  dozens  of  women  and  children  perished  in  all  the 
massacres,  that  in  Kiauta  and  Lessouk  a  hundred  women 
were  mutilated,  and  amongst  the  victims  at  Bitlis  were 
little  boys  (from  five  to  twelve  years  of  age)  of  the 
Church  School  of  Surp  Serkis,  w^e  must  do  the  Turk 
the  justice  to  acknowledge  that  these  cruelties  were  not 
invariably  approved  by  the  head  officials.  .  .  .  The 
populace  went  beyond  their  actual  instructions  when 
we  find  that  amongst  the  450  corpses  buried  in  the  ceme¬ 
tery  at  Sivas  all  the  women  had  been  mutilated.  As  a 
rule,  however,  the  authorities  did  nothing  to  check  the 
bloodthirstiness  of  the  masses,  and  whenever  the  work  of 
murder  was  too  great  for  the  people  alone,  the  soldiers 
were  speedily  summoned  to  help. 

“Many  of  the  fleeing  Armenians  were  simple  enough 
to  believe  that  their  Churches  would  be  a  place  of  safety ; 
that  in  the  sanctuary  they  would  be  spared.  But  as 
hundreds  of  churches  and  convents  had  to  be  reduced 
to  ashes,  since  the  aim  was  to  do  away  with  every  trace 
of  the  hated  Christian  faith ,  what  mattered  the  trifling 
fact  that  men,  women,  and  children  were  inside  them? 
In  Bessuan  the  doors  of  the  church  were  broken  open 
and  all  the  refugees  murdered.  Three  hundred  Arme¬ 
nians  escaped  to  the  monastery  of  Maghapayetzatz  only 
to  be  butchered  with  the  brotherhood.  In  Indises  (dis¬ 
trict  of  Luk-Shehri)  and  in  Habusu  (district  of  Har- 


The  Massacre  of  1895-6  263 

poot)  the  churches  were  burned  over  the  heads  of  the 
Christians ;  but  here  we  cannot  blame  the  people  for 
the  soldiers  set  the  example.  In  Shabin  Kara  Hissar 
more  regard  was  paid  to  the  church,  the  two  thousand 
people  who  had  taken  refuge  there  were  at  least  killed 
outside  the  doors.  ... 

.  “Tt  is  worthy  of  record  that  the  dead  bodies  of  Chris¬ 
tians  were  dragged  naked  out  of  the  towns  and  vil¬ 
lages,  horribly  mutilated,  and  then  cast  out  in  heaps 
on  the  streets,  or  on  dung-hills,  or  thrown  into  streams 
and  drains,  till  asses  and  Jews  were  requisitioned  to 
carry  the  corpses  away  like  the  carrion  of  dead  animals. 
Among  the  mass  of  mutilated  human  flesh  no  one  was 
able  to  recognize  his  own  dead.  When  the  dead  bodies 
were  not  left  as  food  for  dogs,  or  when  they  were  not 
burned  with  petroleum,  a  hole  was  dug  into  which  they 
were  thrown,  in  a  mass.  But  to  men  of  importance 
special  funeral  honors  were  paid.  The  priest  Mattheas 
of  Busseyid,  had  his  head  cut  off  and  placed  between 
his  legs,  and  the  young  Turks  of  the  town  amused  them¬ 
selves  by  flogging  the  body.  The  priest,  Der-Harutiun 
of  Diarbekir,  and  his  colleague  from  the  church  at 
Alipunar,  together  with  ten  other  priests  from  the  dis¬ 
trict  of  Tadem,  had  the  skin  flayed  from  their  bodies. 
A  special  monument  was  erected  to  the  Abbot  Sahag, 
prior  of  the  monastery  of  Surp  Katch  in  the  district 
of  Kizan,  and  to  his  young  assistant;  their  skins  were 
stuffed  with  straw  and  hung  on  trees.  The  Turks  of 
Arabkir  with  an  imagination  worthy  of  Kero  set  up  the 
heads  of  Armenians  in  rows  on  long  poles,  and  the  com¬ 
mander  of  the  gendarmes  at  Baiburt,  who,  on  the  26th 
of  October,  received  from  the  women  of  the  village  of 
Ksauta  five  hundred  pounds  sterling  in  money  and 
jewels  as  a  ransom  for  the  lives  of  their  husbands  and 
who,  a  few  days  later,  changed  his  mind,  and  collecting 
together  in  a  field  the  women  and  children  of  the  vil- 


264  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

lage,  had  them  all  pitilessly  slaughtered,  is  worthy  of 
being  chief  of  Tamerlane’s  bodyguard. 

“At  the  beginning  of  the  disturbance  the  inhabitants 
of  twelve  villages  north  and  west  of  Marash  fled  for 
refuge  to  the  town  of  Turnus  with  the  intention  of  es¬ 
caping  from  thence  to  the  mountains  near  Zeitoun. 
About  four  thousand  of  them  were  suddenly  one  morn¬ 
ing  surrounded  by  soldiers.  A  terrible  butchery  began, 
and  all  were  slain  except  three  hundred  and  eighty 
women  and  children ;  these  were  collected  together 
and  driven  by  the  soldiers  for  two  days  like  a  flock 
of  sheep  to  Marash.  The  government  of  the  sultan 
must  show  how  merciful  it  could  be  to  the  innocent, 
even  though  these  unfortunate  women  were  obliged  in 
the  month  of  December  to  wade  through  the  mountain 
snow,  and  to  leave  many  of  their  starving  children  by 
the  wayside,  as  no  halt  was  permitted.  One  mother  tells 
us  that  when  she  could  not  carry  her  two  children  any 
longer,  she  put  them  on  a  horse  that  belonged  to  the 
soldiers,  and  at  the  next  river  the  little  ones  were  thrown 
into  the  water.  Would  it  not  have  been  more  merciful 
to  have  slain  all  the  4000  together  ? 

“Has  not  enough  blood  been  shed?  When  will  the 
cry  of  this  tortured  people  reach  the  ear  of  Christendom  ? 
What  answer  will  those  Christian  Powers  make  who, 
eighteen  years  ago  (1878),  stretched  a  protecting  hand 
over  Armenia  and  presented  her  with  paper  reforms, 
signed  and  sealed  in  the  name  of  the  Almighty?  But 
enough  of  this,  for  there  is  yet  another  page  of  horror 
to  be  disclosed. 

“‘Kill  the  men!  Their  wives ,  their  daughters ,  and 
their  property  are  ours.’  That  was  the  watchword  with 
which  the  soldiers  of  Csesarea  urged  on  the  armed  mob 
to  murder,  plunder,  and  outrage.  And  this  watchword 
was  heard  and  obeyed  in  all  the  hundreds  of  towns 
and  villages  where  the  work  of  murder  was  carried  out. 
Even  before  the  commencement  of  the  massacres  the 


265 


The  Massacre  of  1895-6 

shameless  Turkish  soldiers  had  dared  to  ask  the  Chris¬ 
tian  mothers  to  keep  their  daughters  for  them,  saying 
that  soon  all  the  Christian  girls  in  the  country  would 
belong  to  them. 

“We  must  already  reckon  the  number  of  slain  at 
85,000  in  the  massacres  of  1895-1896,  but  who  can  count 
all  the  deeds  of  shame  and  infamy,  who  can  number  the 
tens  of  thousands  who  were  driven  into  the  mountains, 
sold  into  harems,  exposed  in  the  slave-markets,  or  who, 
after  having  been  outraged,  were  secretly  murdered  ? 

“It  seems  necessary  to  give  some  idea  of  the  shame 
and  dishonor  to  which  even  at  the  present  time  women 
are  exposed.  The  scoundrel  Hadji  Bego,  who  boasted 
of  having  killed  a  hundred  Armenians  with  his  own 
hand,  hunted  a  Christian  girl  naked  through  the  streets 
of  the  town.  The  Turkish  people  of  Caesarea,  who  burnt 
thirty  Armenian  houses  with  their  inhabitants,  also 
helped  to  storm  the  women’s  baths  at  the  bathing  hour. 
And  with  what  reception  did  those  thirty  women  of 
Koschmad  meet,  who  wandered  over  the  mountains  with¬ 
out  any  clothes,  till  they  reached  Shinas  and  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  soldiers  there?  But  that  was  nothing 
unusual.  There  was  no  massacre  in  which  the  murder 
of  the  men  was  not  followed  by  outrage  on  the  women 
and  girls;  no  plunder  in  which  they  were  not  offered 
for  sale ,  carried  off  as  spoils ,  exchanged  for  horses  and, 
donkeys ,  or  exposed  in  the  slave  market.  The  Agas 
or  officers  distributed  the  girls  among  the  Zaptiehs  and 
soldiers. 

“Hot  safe  in  their  own  houses  under  the  eye  of  their 
husbands,  who  had  often,  bound  to  door-posts,  to  wit¬ 
ness  their  fate,  outraged  and  robbed  of  all  protection, 
hunted  from  house  to  house  till  they  fell  a  prey  to  dis¬ 
honor — that,  Christian  women ,  is  the  fate  of  your  sisters 
in  Armenia. 

“Which  of  the  two  do  you  most  pity — the  widowed  or 
orphaned  girl  cowering  among  rags  in  some  corner  of 


266  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

her  ruined  home,  trembling  at  every  footstep  of  q  man, 
be  he  Turk  or  Kurd,  who  may  force  his  way  in  and  out¬ 
rage  her  before  her  children,  or  her  brothers  and  sisters ; 
or  that  other  girl  who,  distinguished  perhaps  for  beauty, 
has  pleased  the  eye  of  some  Turkish  Aga,  and,  in  spite 
of  her  ciies  and  tears,  has  been  dragged  into  his  harem, 
and  forced  to  give  up  at  once  her  honor  and  her  faith  ? 
Can  we  understand  now  what  drove  hundreds  of  Ar¬ 
menian  women  to  suicide  ?  Or  why  those  fifty  women 
of  Lessouk  and  Krauta  threw  themselves  into  the  wells, 
or  leapt  from  the  edge  of  precipices  ?  We  can  realize 
the  horror  that  filled  the  soul  of  that  highborn  Arme¬ 
nian  lady  who  was  carried  off  with  a  troop  of  women 
and  children  and  a  few  men  from  TJzounova  (twenty- 
five  miles  east  of  Harpout).  When  they  reached  the 
banks  of  the  Euphrates  she  called  to  her  companions, 
and,  rushing  to  the  river,  threw  herself  in.  That  dis¬ 
honor  is  worse  than  death  is  proved  by  the  fact,  that 
fifty-five  women  and  children  followed  her  example,  and 
perished  in  the  waters. 

“Who  would  not  feel  compassion  for  the  unfortunate 
old  man  who  thus  expresses  his  nameless  grief  in  a 
letter  to  his  son :  fOh,  I  dare  not  tell  you  .  .  .  they 
came  and  threatened  to  kill  me  if  I  refused  to  give  up 
your  sister.  After  they  had  taken  everything  else — 
blankets,  beds,  clothes,  provisions,  and  even  fuel — they 
returned  to  demand  our  daughter.  I  was  prepared  to 
withstand  to  the  end,  but  when  she  saw  that  they  were 
about  to  kill  me,  she  threw  herself  at  their  feet,  and 
cried  out :  “Spare  my  father !  Here  I  am.”  > 

“Admirers  of  Turkish  army  organization  and  of  Mo¬ 
hammedan  civilization  ought  to  know  that  even  the 
brutality  of  the  Kurdish  hordes  and  the  cynicism  of  the 
townspeople  were  thrown  completely  into  the  shade  by 
the  infamous  conduct  of  the  soldiers  and  officers. 
Although  it  fills  me  with  disgust  to  dip  my  pen  into 
this  sink  of  corruption,  I  feel  it  is  necessary  that  the 


267 


The  Massacre  of  1895-6 

world  should  know  what  deeds  are  done  in  this  home  of 
promised  reforms  by  the  guardians  of  law  and  order. 

‘  The  truth  of  the  following  account  is  established  by 
two  independent  testimonies  which  lie  before  me :  Tn 
the  village  of  Husseyinik  (vilayet  of  Harpout),  six  hun¬ 
dred  soldiers  (and  their  officers)  collected  together  in 
the  military  depot  about  the  same  number  of  women 
and  young  girls;  they  first  outraged  them,  and  then 
murdered  the  unhappy  victims  of  their  horrible  lust/ 

“Does  not  this  blood  cry  to  Heaven?  And  even 
though  the  kings  of  the  earth  be  deaf  to  its  cry,  will  not 
God  hear?” 

It  should  not  be  considered  superfluous  to  state 
that  even  these  facts  were  brought  by  such  an  able 
and  honest  man  as  Dr.  Lepsius  before  the  attention 
of  the  German  people,  the  German  government  still 
courted  the  friendship  of  the  Turkish  government, 
and  have  succeeded  in  keeping  the  masses  of  the 
honest  and  good  Christian  people  to  believe  that  the 
Armenians  were  receiving  from  the  hands  of  the 
Turks  what  they  deserved.  Strange  as  it  may  appear, 
yet  nevertheless  it  is  true,  that  the  Germans  were 
more  willing  to  believe  than  the  Englishmen — like 
her  Majesty’s  Government — that  Armenians  were  not 
suffering  all  these  atrocities  on  account  of  “their  re¬ 
ligious  faith.”  It  is  a  disgrace  to  humanity,  and 
especially  to  the  German  Kultur,  that  Germans  who 
are  so  thorough  in  almost  everything,  should  still  be 
so  superficial  in  this  one  particular,  that  they  should 
not  see  the  underlying  fact.  Dr.  Lepsius  quotes  from 
a  German  daily  paper  which,  in  discussing  the  mas¬ 
sacre  at  Sassoun,  wrote: 


268  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

4  \ 

“In  the  absence  of  other  reasons  for  European  inter¬ 
vention,  the  English  and  American  press  have  been 
obliged  to  take  up  the  Christian  religion  of  the  Arme¬ 
nians.  Gladstone,  indeed,  on  the  occasion  of  the  farce 
of  the  reception  of  the  deputation  from  Sassoun,  did 
not  shrink  from  speaking  of  the  ‘Armenians  persecuted 
for  their  Christian  faith/  That  is  a  palpable  falsehood. 
What  reason  could  the  Porte  have  had  for  suddenly 
setting  on  foot  a  religious  persecution,  when  in  the 
course  of  hundreds  of  years  it  had  taken  no  notice  of 
the  Armenian  religion?  As  a  matter  of  fact,  a  genuine 
persecution  of  Christians  has  never  taken  place  in  the 
Turkish  Empire.  Moreover,  it  would  be  the  most  im¬ 
prudent  thing  the  Porte  could  do  to  increase  the  mani¬ 
fold  difficulties  of  its  position  by  a  religious  persecu¬ 
tion.  .  . 

The  following  is  the  answer  which  Dr.  Lepsius 
gives,  and  he  also  sets  an  array  of  facts  against 
biassed  opinions: 

"It  is  worth  while  to  reproduce  this  pregnant  sum¬ 
mary  of  a  widespread  opinion  .  .  .  for  still  the  German 
press  daily  tells  the  same  tale.  ...  We  confine  our¬ 
selves  to  Armenia,  and  here  we  must  indeed  agree  that 
it  not  only  would  be,  but  was  ‘the  most  imprudent  thing 
the  Porte  could  do/  to  inaugurate  a  persecution  of 
Christianity.  For  the  Christians  number  one-third  of 
the  subjects  of  his  majesty,  the  sultan,  and — if  we 
weigh  instead  of  counting  them — in  intelligence,  edu¬ 
cation,  practical  ability,  and  moral  eneregy,  they  take 
up  two-thirds  of  the  entire  population  of  the  Turkish 
empire.  ...  We  cannot  blame  him  [the  journalist], 
then,  if  he  is  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  the  dismem¬ 
berment  of  the  Ottoman  Empire  and  the  ‘manifold  dif¬ 
ficulties  of  its  position’  can  be  traced  back  in  every 
case  to  the  opposition  between  Islam  and  Christianity 


The  Massacre  of  1895-6 


269 


as  well  as  to  the  circumstance  that  the  religious  law  of 
Islam — which  during  the  last  decades  has  been  more 
than  ever  the  standard  of  Ottoman  policy — does  not 
admit  equality  of  civil  rights,  and  that  any  concession 
in  this  direction  from  the  Porte  can  only  be  regarded 
‘in  principle,5  i.e.,  on  paper.  .  .  . 

“What  are  the  Armenian  massacres  then?  Without 
any  question  their  origin  was  purely  political,  or  to  state 
it  more  exactly,  they  were  an  administrative  measure. 
But  facts  go  to  prove  that,  considering  the  character 
of  the  Mohammedan  people,  whose  very  political  pas¬ 
sions  are  roused  only  by  religious  motives,  this  admin¬ 
istrative  measure  must  and  did ,  take  the  form  of  a  reli¬ 
gious  persecution  on  a  gigantic  scale .  Are  we  then, 
simply  because  of  the  political  origin  of  this  religious 
persecution,  to  be  forbidden  to  speak  of  the  Armenians 
as  ‘persecuted  on  account  of  their  religious  belief5?  If 
so,  there  have  never  been  any  religious  persecutions  in 
the  world;  for  all  such  without  exception  have  been 
associated  with  political  movements,  and  even  the  death 
of  Christ  was  nothing  but  a  political  event,  for  political 
moves  turned  the  balance  at  His  condemnation. 

“We  have  lists  before  us  of  559  villages  whose  sur¬ 
viving  inhabitants  were  converted  to  Islam  with  fire 
and  sword,  of  568  churches  thoroughly  pillaged,  de¬ 
stroyed,  and  razed  to  the  ground,  of  282  Christian 
churches  transformed  into  mosques,  of  21  Protestant 
preachers  and  170  Gregorian  (Armenian)  priests  who 
were  after  enduring  unspeakable  tortures  murdered  on 
their  refusal  to  accept  Islam.  We  repeat,  however,  that 
these  figures  express  only  the  extent  of  our  information , 
and  do  not,  by  a  long  way,  reach  to  the  extent  of  the 
reality.  Is  this  a  religious  persecution  or  is  it  not  ?  .  .  . 
The  most  shameful  desecration  of  the  churches  every¬ 
where,  the  pollution  of  sacred  vessels  .  .  .  the  spitting 
on  Gospels  and  Bibles  which  were  then  torn  into  a 


270  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

thousand  pieces — these  were  the  mere  accessories  to  the 
drama  of  vandalism. 

“The  method  adopted  for  the  work  of  compulsory 
conversion  was  everywhere  the  same.  ...  In  some 
towns  and  villages,  even  before  the  outbreak  of  the  mas¬ 
sacres,  the  choice  was  given  of  averting  the  threatened 
fate  by  embracing  Islam.  Mere  threats  of  death  were 
seldom  sufficient;  bayonets  were  pointed  at  the  heart, 
swords  at  the  throat.  When  this  did  not  avail,  tortures 
were  employed.  The  priests  and  preachers,  especially 
who  refused  to  renounce  their  faith,  had  to  endure 
absolutely  inconceivable  tortures  before  they  received 
the  coup  de  grace.  The  priest  Der  Hagop  of  Harpout, 
became  insane,  when,  clad  only  in  his  shirt,  he  saw  the 
swords  of  fifty  soldiers  pointed  at  him.  What  was  to 
be  done  with  him?  As  the  Mullahs  declared  that  a 
madman  could  not  be  received  into  Islam  he  was  for 
the  present  thrown  into  prison  for  contumacy. 

“In  the  monastery  at  Tadem  the  Venerable  Archi¬ 
mandrite,  Ohannes  Papazian,  had  first  his  hands  and 
afterwards  his  arms  up  to  the  elbows  cut  off,  on  his 
refusal  to  accept  Islam.  WTien,  even  then,  he  would  not 
yield,  he  was  beheaded  on  the  pavement  of  the  church. 
At  Biredjik  an  old  man  who  refused  to  renounce  his 
faith  was  thrown  down,  live  coals  were  heaped  upon  him, 
and,  when  he  writhed  in  his  agony,  the  fiends  held  a 
Bible  before  his  eyes  and  mockingly  bade  him  read  to 
them  some  of  the  promises  on  which  he  had  pinned  his 
faith. 

“At  Diarbekir,  the  great  stone  church  of  the  Syrian 
order  of  St.  J ames,  in  which  a  number  of  refugees  were 
sheltering,  was  surrounded  by  Kurds  who  fired  on  it, 
broke  open  the  roof,  threw  down  combustibles  and  at 
last  succeeded  in  bursting  open  the  door.  Amid  the 
joyous  shouts  of  the  mob  the  refugees  were  driven  into 
the  open  in  dense  masses,  and  received  with  a  hail  of 
bullets.  When  the  pastor,  Jirjs  Khatherschian,  from 


The  Massacre  of  1895-6 


271 


Egypt,  who  happened  to  be  visiting  his  relations,  was 
recognized  as  an  ecclesiastic  he  was  thrown  to  the 
ground,  and  beaten  till  he  became  unconscious.  One 
of  the  sacred  books  scattered  around  was  pushed  into 
his  mouth,  and  he  was  mockingly  called  upon  to  preach 
a  sermon.  Burning  brands  fell  on  him,  and  when  he 
was  aroused  from  his  unconscious  state  by  the  pain, 
and  attempted  to  crawl  away,  he  was  seized  and  hurled 
into  the  blazing  fire  and  burnt  to  death.  Are  we  not 
reminded  of  the  heroism  of  the  Maccabees  by  a  mother 
at  Ourfa,  who,  when  an  attempt  was  made  to  force  her 
sons  to  renounce  their  religion,  came  running  up  and 
besought  them :  ‘Let  them  kill  you,  but  do  not  deny  the 
Lord  Jesus’ — and  the  steadfast  pair  suffered  death  by 
the  sword.  The  women  and  children  followed  the  men 
to  martyrdom.  At  Bitlis  a  hundred  women,  whose  hus¬ 
bands  had  been  slain,  were  conducted  by  soldiers  to  an 
open  place.  What  was  their  answer  when  they  were 
called  upon  to  renounce  Jesus  and  save  their  lives: 
‘No,  our  husbands  died  for  Him,  and  we  will  do  the 
same/  They  were  massacred.” 

At  Caesarea,  in  the  massacre  of  November  30th, 
Rev.  Dr.  Avedis  Yeretzian,  a  pastor  and  physician, 
his  wife,  his  eldest  son  and  his  brother-in-law  were 
ruthlessly  butchered  by  the  Turks  and  thrown  into  the 
flames  of  their  burning  house.  In  another  house  a 
Protestant  alone  with  his  twelve  year  old  daughter, 
the  mother  being  absent,  a  Turk  burst  into  the  room 
where  the  father  was,  and  killed  him  on  his  refusal  to 
embrace  the  Mohammedan  faith.  He  then  went  into 
the  room  where  the  girl,  unaware  of  the  affair,  was 
sitting.  He  said  to  her:  “Your  father  is  dead  be¬ 
cause  he  would  not  embrace  Islam,  now  I  must  make 
you  a  Mohammedan,  then  I  shall  take  you  to  my  home 


272  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

and  yon  will  be  treated  as  my  daughter.  Are  yon 
willing  ?”  Her  answer  was,  “I  believe  in  Jesus. 
He  is  my  Saviour,  and  1  love  Him.  I  cannot  do  what 
you  wish,  even  if  you  kill  me.”  He  fell  upon  her 
in  his  fury  and  stabbed  her  in  twelve  different  places. 
The  house  was  plundered  and  burnt  with  the  father’s 
corpse  lying  therein.  The  same  evening,  in  another 
part  of  the  town,  a  cart  drove  up  to  the  house  where 
the  girl’s  mother  was  staying.  A  neighbor,  a  kindly 
disposed  Turk,  entered  and  said:  “I  have  brought 
you  the  body  of  your  little  daughter.  You  are  a 
friend  of  mine,  I  could  not  leave  it  lying  there.  I 
am  sorry  this  has  happened.” 

The  British  Vice-Consul,  Mr.  Fitzmaurice,  who 
was  sent  to  Urfa  to  make  an  investigation  of  the 
massacre,  made  the  following  report: 

“On  Saturday  night  (the  28th  of  December,  1895) 
crowds  of  Armenian  men,  women  and  children  took 
refuge  in  their  fine  cathedral,  capable  of  holding  some 
eight  thousand  persons.  They  administered  the  sacra¬ 
ment,  the  last  sacrament,  as  it  proved  to  be,  to  eighteen 
hundred  souls,  recording  the  figure  on  one  of  the  pillars 
of  the  church. 

“Those  remained  in  the  cathedral  overnight,  and 
were  joined  on  Sunday  by  several  hundred  more,  who 
sought  the  protection  of  a  building  which  they  consid¬ 
ered  safe  from  the  mob-violence  of  the  Musulman  even 
in  his  fanaticism.  At  least  three  thousand  individuals 
were  congregated  in  the  building  when  the  mob  at¬ 
tacked  it.  They  first  fired  in  through  the  windows, 
then  smashed  in  the  iron  door,  and  proceeded  to  mas¬ 
sacre  all  those,  the  majority  on  the  ground  floor  being 
men.  Having  thus  disposed  of  the  men,  and  having 


273 


The  Massacre  of  1895-6 

removed  some  of  the  young  women,  they  rifled  the 
church  treasure,  shrines,  and  ornaments  to  the  extent 
of  some  four  thousand  pounds  (Turkish — $17,600),  de¬ 
stroying  pictures  and  relics,  mockingly  calling  on  Christ 
now  to  prove  Himself  a  greater  prophet  than  Mo¬ 
hammed. 

“A  huge,  partly  stone,  partly  wooden,  gallery,  run¬ 
ning  round  the  upper  portion  of  the  cathedral,  was 
packed  with  a  shrieking  and  terrified  mass  of  women, 
children  and  some  men. 

“Some  of  the  intruders  jumping  on  the  raised  altar 
platform,  began  picking  off  the  latter  with  revolver 
shots,  but  as  this  process  seemed  too  tedious,  they  be¬ 
thought  themselves  of  a  more  expeditious  method  em¬ 
ployed  against  those  who  had  hidden  in  the  wells.  Hav¬ 
ing  collected  a  quantity  of  bedding  and  the  church 
matting,  they  poured  some  thirty  cans  of  kerosene  upon 
it  and  then  set  fire  to  the  whole.  The  gallery  beams 
and  wooden  frame  work  soon  caught  fire,  whereupon, 
blocking  up  the  staircases  leading  to  the  gallery  with 
similar  inflammable  material,  they  left  the  mass  of 
struggling  human  beings  to  become  the  prey  of  tho 
flames. 

“During  several  hours  the  sickening  odor  of  roasting 
flesh  prevailed  in  the  town ;  and  even  to-day,  two  months 
and  a  half  after  the  massacre,  the  smell  of  charred  re¬ 
mains  in  the  church  is  unbearable. 

“At  3.30  p.m.  at  the  Moslem  afternoon  prayer,  the 
trumpet  again  sounded,  and  the  mob  drew  off  from  the 
Armenian  quarter.  Shortly  afterward  the  Mufte  and 
other  notables,  preceded  by  music,  among  which  were 
brass  military  instruments,  went  round  the  quarter  an¬ 
nouncing  that  the  massacre  was  at  an  end,  and  that  there 
would  be  no  more  killing  of  Christians. 

“No  distinction  was  made  between  Gregorians,  Prot¬ 
estants,  and  Roman  Catholics,  whose  churches,  also,  were 
rifled.  The  thoroughness  with  which  some  of  the  work 


274  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

was  done  may  be  understood  from  the  fact  that  one 
hundred  twenty-six  Armenian  families  have  been  abso¬ 
lutely  wiped  out,  not  even  a  woman  or  a  baby  remains. 

.  .  .  After  very  close  and  minute  inquiry,  I  believe 
that  close  on  eight  thousand  Armenians  perished  in  the 
two  days’  massacre,  between  2500  and  3000  of  whom 
were  killed  or  burned  in  the  cathedral.  I  should  not, 
however,  be  at  all  surprised  if  nine  thousand  or  ten 
thousand  were  subsequently  found  to  be  nearer  the 
mark.” 1 

Miss  Corinna  Shattuck,  the  noble  American  lady 
missionary,  was  alone  in  the  city  of  Urfa  during  the 
massacres.  She  was  both  lion-hearted  and  tender¬ 
hearted.  She  wrote:  “It  was  apparent  that  the  ut¬ 
most  was  done  (by  the  officials)  to  protect  me,  but 
how  willingly  I  would  have  died  that  thousands  of 
parents  might  be  spared  to  their  children.”  It  is 
stated  that  seventeen  Armenian  houses  and  two  hun¬ 
dred  forty  persons  were  saved  from  the  massacre  by 
her  special  efforts.  “Pastor  Abouhaiydian  with  his 
six  motherless  children  and  many  others  had  fled  to 
the  house  of  an  Armenian  doctor.  The  Turks  at¬ 
tacked  the  house  and  killed  forty-five  men.  The  pas¬ 
tor  plead  for  life  for  the  sake  of  his  children,  but 
when  he  refused  to  accept  the  Islam  faith  they  shot 
him  through  the  heart.  The  eldest  daughter,  then  in 
her  17th  year,  ran  to  her  father,  who  said  to  her, 
‘Fear  not,  the  Lord  is  with  you.  I  have  no  fear  for 
I  am  going  to  my  dear  Saviour.’  The  Turks  took 
the  children  to  a  mosque,  but  after  three  days  they 


a  Report  of  Vice-Consul  Fitzmaurice,  Turkey,  No.  V.,  1896. 


The  Massacre  of  1895-6  275 

were  recovered  by  Miss  Sbattuck  who  kept  them  until 
claimed  by  friends.”1 

The  pastor  of  the  Protestant  Armenian  church  at 
Sivas,  Garabed  Kuludjizn,  was  visiting  some 
strangers  in  a  khan;  he  was  seized  upon  and  the 
demand  made  of  him  to  deny  Christ  and  accept  the 
Mohammedan  faith.  On  his  refusal,  he  was  shot  to 
death  by  Mohammed’s  followers. 

The  massacre  at  Marash  was — like  the  rest  of  mas¬ 
sacres  in  other  places — carefully  planned  by  the  au¬ 
thorities  and  carried  out  with  utmost  cruelty  and  bar¬ 
barism.  On  the  26th  of  October  about  forty  Arme¬ 
nians  were  killed  and  some  shops  and  houses  were 
looted.  But  the  plans  for  the  general  massacre  must 
not  have  been  quite  matured,  nevertheless,  fifteen 
thousand  Armenians,  about  one-third  of  the  entire 
population  of  the  city,  were  completely  terrorized. 
The  Christians  fled  and  hid  themselves  in  their  houses 
for  a  while.  On  the  18th  of  November,  at  8  a.m., 
the  fearful  slaughter  and  plunder  began.  The  near 
neighbors  of  the  missionaries  fled  into  the  mission¬ 
aries’  houses  for  safety,  and  about  two  hundred  per¬ 
sons  were  saved.  We  reproduce  the  following  state¬ 
ments  of  our  missionaries  who  witnessed  the  horrors : 

“The  massacre  in  the  city  was  fearful  beyond  words 
to  express.  Three  Christian  quarters,  covering  a  large 
area,  were  burned.  Two  Gregorian  Armenian  Churches 
were  burned  and  in  one  of  them  the  women  and  children, 
who  had  sought  refuge  there,  perished  in  the  flames. 
The  Second  and  Third  Evangelical  Churches  were  looted 


1  Greene,  “Leavening  the  Levant,”  pp.  177-8. 


276  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

and  the  inside  of  the  building  was  cut  to  pieces.  The 
venerable  pastor  of  the  native  church  connected  with 
the  Church  of  England,  after  suffering  tortures,  was 
killed.  The  two  head  teachers  of  the  American  Academy, 
one  of  whom  was  also  acting  pastor  of  the  First  Evan¬ 
gelical  Church,  were  killed,  and  one  of  them  was  flayed 
alive  and  then  cut  to  pieces.  In  all  some  1000  Arme¬ 
nians,  to  whom  generally  the  alternative  of  Islam  or 
death  was  given,  were  most  cruelly  slain.  Children  were 
disemboweled,  and  the  dissevered  heads  of  men  and 
women  were  kicked  about  by  the  soldiers  as  balls  or  were 
carried  on  pikes  through  the  streets.  And  this  dire 
work  of  murdering,  robbing  and  burning  was  done,  not 
by  Kurds,  but  by  the  regular  soldiers  of  the  Ottoman 
Government ,  assisted  by  the  Moslem  population  of  the 
city,  and  here,  as  in  so  many  other  places,  the  Armenians 
were  utterly  passive  victims,  without  arms  or  possible 
means  of  self-defense.  So  far  as  is  known,  not  a  Turk 
was  hurt  in  all  the  eight  hours’  carnage.  ... 

“Such  is  the  preparation  which  his  majesty  is  making, 
preliminary  to  the  fulfillment  of  his  promise  to  Lord 
Salisbury  on  his  honor  (?)  to  carry  out  the  scheme  of 
reform.  Such  is  the  state  into  which  England  (all 
unwittingly),  by  her  initiative  in  elaborating  and  insist¬ 
ing  on  reforms,  has  plunged  the  Armenians.  Is  it  to 
her  honor  that  she  now  leaves  them  to  he  murdered , 
rolled,  burned  and  martyred?” 

England’s  enemies — the  enemies  she  had  made 
in  almost  a  hundred  years  of  defending  the  barbarous 
Turk,  and  her  jealous  neighbors  who  were  already 
her  enemies — were  secretly  and  openly  encouraging 
the  beast  in  human  form  to  humiliate  England 
through  him,  and  also  by  befriending  him,  they  were 
paving  the  way  for  their  colonial  and  commercial  am- 


The  Massacre  of  1895-6 


277 


bitions.  Thus  the  Armenians  were  abandoned  to  their 
fate.  The  following  statement  was  made,  it  may  be 
an  attempt  of  England  to  throw  off  her  responsibility : 
“In  February,  1896,  the  cabinet  of  Lord  Salisbury, 
the  minister  who  had  concluded  the  Convention  (both 
of  Cyprus  and  of  Berlin  in  1878),  confessed  that 
as  the  Turks  had  refused  to  carry  out  reforms  prom¬ 
ised  in  that  instrument,  it  was  impossible  for  Eng¬ 
land,  notwithstanding  the  possession  of  Cyprus,  to 
occupy  Armenia  and  prevent  the  massacres  which  had 
happened  there,  and  that  it  had  become  practically 
impossible  for  her  any  longer  to  give  either  moral 
or  material  support  to  the  Turkish  power.”  1 

England’s  confession  of  her  inability- — rather  her 
unwillingness — encouraged  the  great  assassin,  the 
sultan,  to  do  still  more  of  his  bloody  work.  The 
following  statement  is  given  by  Dr.  Lepsius:  “The 
massacres  of  Van,  FTiksar,  and  Eghin  in  June  of 
1896,  although  in  their  course,  20,000  Armenians 
were  slaughtered,  have,  in  spite  of  the  details  given 
in  the  Frankfort  Journal ,  made  not  the  slightest 
impression  on  the  continental  press.  For  the  culture 
of  Central  Europe,  such  events  lie  too  far  away  in 
the  depths  of  Turkish  territory.” 

There  is  one  more  incident  which  belongs  to  this 
chapter.  It  is  the  massacre  at  Constantinople.  The 
simple  narrative  of  this  horrible  crime  against  hu¬ 
manity  in  general,  and  the  Armenians  in  particular, 
is  another  indictment  not  only  against  the  sultan, 
but  also  against  the  European  Powers. 

i  Bryce,  “Transcaucasia  and  Ararat,”  p.  520,  4th  edition. 


278  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

On  good  authority  we  are  informed,  that  the  Turk¬ 
ish  government  knew  beforehand  that  certain  revo¬ 
lutionary  Armenians  from  Russia  would  make  an 
attack  on  the  Ottoman  Bank,  and  had  taken  the 
necessary  measures,  not  to  prevent  the  revolutionary 
action,  but  to  organize,  owing  to  this  welcome  oppor¬ 
tunity,  a  universal  massacre  of  the  peaceful  Arme¬ 
nians  of  Constantinople. 

‘About  noon  (on  the  26th  of  August,  1896)  a  band 
of  Armenians,  most  of  them  from  Russia,  entered  the 
Ottoman  Bank,  with  arms  and  dynamite,  took  the  em¬ 
ployees  prisoners  and  barricaded  themselves  in  the  build- 
ing,  with  threat  that,  unless  the  ambassadors  secure 
a  pledge  from  the  sultan  of  certain  reforms,  they 
would  blow  up  the  bank  with  dynamite.  To  finish  with 
this  part  of  the  story,  soldiers  soon  surrounded  the 
bank,  and  negotiations  began  with  the  captors  which  in 
the  evening  resulted  in  their  being  permitted  to  leave 
the  bank,  go  on  board  the  yacht  of  the  chief  manager 
and  leave  the  country  unmolested. 

“Who  originated  this  plot  I  do  not  know,  but  it  is 
certain  that  the  Turkish  government  knew  all  about  it, 
many  days  before,  even  to  the  exact  time  when  the 
bank  was  to  be  entered,  and  the  minister  of  police  had 
made  elaborate  arrangements,  not  to  arrest  these  men 
or  prevent  the  attach  on  the  lank ,  lut  to  facilitate  it 
and  make  it  the  occasion  of  a  massacre  of  the  Armenian 
population  of  the  city.  This  was  to  be  the  crown  of  all 
the  massacres  of  the  year,  one  worthy  of  the  capital 
and  the  seat  of  the  sultan,  a  final  defiance  to  the  Chris¬ 
tian  world.  Not  many  minutes  after  the  attack  on  the 
bank,  the  band  of  Turks,  who  had  been  organized  by 
the  minister  of  police  in  Stamboul  and  Galata,  com¬ 
menced  the  work  of  killing  every  Armenian  they  could 


279 


The  Massacre  of  1895-6 

find.  They  were  protected  by  large  bodies  of  troops, 
who  in  some  cases  took  part  in  the  slaughter.  Through 
Wednesday,  Wednesday  night,  Thursday,  and  Thursday 
night  the  massacre  went  on  unchecked.  An  open  tele¬ 
gram  was  sent  by  the  ambassadors  to  the  sultan  Thurs¬ 
day  night,  which  perhaps  influenced  him  to  give  orders 
to  stop  the  massacre,  and  not  many  were  murdered  on 
Friday.  I  do  not  care  to  enter  at  all  into  the  horrible 
details  of  this  massacre  of  some  ten  thousand  Armenians. 

“The  massacre  of  the  Armenians  came  to  an  end  on 
Friday,  ...  but  the  persecution  of  them  which  went 
on  for  months  was  worse  than  the  massacre.  The  busi¬ 
ness  was  destroyed,  they  plundered  and  blackmailed 
without  mercy,  they  were  hunted  like  wild  beasts,  they 
were  imprisoned,  tortured,  killed,  deported,  fled  the 
country,  until  the  Armenian  population  of  the  city  was 
reduced  by  some  seventy-five  thousands ,  mostly  men,  in¬ 
cluding  those  massacred.  .  .  .  The  poverty  and  dis¬ 
tress  of  those  left  alive  in  Constantinople  was  often 
heartrending,  and  many  women  and  children  died  of 
slow  starvation. 

“Sir  Michael  Herbert,  the  British  charge  d'affaires , 
and  some  of  the  ambassadors  did  what  they  could  to 
stop  the  massacre  of  the  Armenians,  .  .  .  but.  the 
‘concert  of  Europe’  did  nothing.  It  accepted  the  situa¬ 
tion.  The  Emperor  of  Germany  went  farther.  He  sent 
a  special  embassy  to  present  to  the  sultan  a  portrait 
of  his  family  as  a  token  of  his  esteem.” 1 

We  would  have  thought  it  would  have  been  better 
to  give  Sultan  Hamid  enough  time  to  wash  his  hands 
of  the  blood  of  the  Armenians  before  giving  him  the 
portrait  of  the  imperial  family.  Hut  the  King  of 
Prussia  thought  that  Abdul  Hamid  needed  a  friend 
then  more  than  any  other  time,  and  the  world  also 

i  Washburn,  “Fifty  Years  in  Constantinople,”  pp.  245-9. 


280  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

may  know  that  Emperor  William  II  of  Germany  was 
the  friend  of  the  great  assassin.  We  wonder  whether 
congeniality  is  a  condition  of  friendship  among  rulers 
as  it  is  among  individuals. 

In  his  Guildhall  speech,  November  9,  1896,  Lord 
Salisbury  was  heard  again.  He  declared  that  Eng¬ 
land  would  adhere  to  the  European  concert,  yet  the 
veto  of  any  one  power,  meant  that  the  concert  could 
not  act,  he  also  admitted  that  to  act  separately  from 
the  concert  would  bring  about  a  war;  England  was 
not  prepared  for  this,  because  her  strength  consisted 
in  her  navy,  and  no  fleet  in  the  world  could  “get  over 
the  mountains  of  Taurus  to  protect  the  Armenians.” 
Thus  the  European  Powers  agreed  to  disagree  to  force 
the  sultan  to  be  truthful  and  fulfill  his  promises  of 
reform,  or  even  to  stop  his  cruel  work  of  extermina¬ 
tion  of  a  nation.  The  result  of  this  disagreement  to 
coerce  the  sultan  to  act  humanely,  and  the  Powers 
hiding  themselves  behind  the  European  concert,  was 
to  leave  Abdul  Hamid  to  do  as  he  pleased.  And  he 
pleased  thus:  From  Constantinople  to  Van,  from  the 
shores  of  the  Black  Sea  to  the  shores  of  the  Mediter¬ 
ranean,  “with  inexpressible  cruelty  150,000  men, 
women,  and  children  were  killed,  burned  or  buried 
alive,  and  yet  Europe  seemed  powerless.”1  Why 
was  (or  seemed)  Europe  powerless?  Because  the 
veto  of  any  one  power  meant  that  the  Concert  could 
not  act.  What  power  or  powers  did  the  vetoing? 
We  have  no  desire  to  incriminate  any  power,  for  all 

*  Andrews,  “A  History  of  All  Nations,”  Vol.  XX,  p.  341.  Published 
by  Lea  Brothers  and  Co.,  Philadelphia. 


281 


The  Massacre  of  1895-6 

are  guilty.  But  the  evidence,  judging  by  the  events 
past  and  present,  strongly  points  to  the  power  which 
has  been  in  desperate  love  with  the  modern  Jezebel, 
the  only  Mohammedan  power,  for  a  political  wed¬ 
lock.  This  political  matrimony  has  been  consum¬ 
mated  in  the  autumn  of  1914.  But  let  us  look  back 
to  the  time  of  the  courtship. 

In  1888  German  financiers  secured  concession  from 
the  sultan  for  a  railroad  in  Asia  Minor.  And  Ger¬ 
man  colonists  and  expansionists  “dreamed  of  linking 
the  Baltic  Sea  with  the  Persian  gulf  and  carrying 
the  Teutonic  empire  across  Asia.”  Since  then  “the 
government  had  sedulously  cultivated  its  influence 
over  Turkey.”  And  shortly  after  the  massacre  of 
ten  thousand  Armenians  in  Constantinople,  the 
kaiser,  by  a  special  embassy  presented  to  the  sultan 
the  Imperial  Family  Portrait  as  a  “token  of  esteem.” 


XVI 


THE  REVOLUTION  AND  MASSACRES  OF 

ADANA,  1908-1909 

SULTAN  ABDUL  HAMID’S  despotism  during 
his  long  and  bloody  reign  had  alienated  not 
only  all  the  decent  people  in  his  realm,  but 
even  some  of  the  worse  classes,  who,  for  their  liberal 
views,  not  for  better  lives,  were  listed  as  his  enemies. 
These  were  not  Turks  by  descent,  neither  Mohamme¬ 
dans  by  choice,  but  being  the  children  of  renegades, 
whose  forefathers  professed  themselves  Mohamme¬ 
dans  in  order  to  save  their  lives,  their  honor,  and  their 
property.  Thus  these  European  Mohammedans  were 
largely  of  Christian  extract,  and  naturally  had  better 
chances  to  learn  from  the  Western  nations,  especially 
the  army  officers,  some  of  whom  had  been  educated 
in  military  schools  in  Europe.  Others,  who  were 
known  and  dogged  by  the  numerous  spies  of  Abdul 
Hamid,  fled  the  country  into  Europe,  and  in  Paris 
and  other  places,  carried  on  a  revolutionary  propa¬ 
ganda. 

The  leaders  of  this  movement  first  influenced  the 
army  and  navy  officers.  The  latter  in  turn  appealed 
to  their  regiments.  When  they  were  sure  of  success, 
and  everything  in  readiness,  then  they  demanded 

282 


Revolution  and  Massacres  of  Adana  283 

from  Abdul  Hamid  the  restoration  of  the  constitu¬ 
tion  which  he  had  suppressed  in  1877,  and  other  re¬ 
forms.  Their  demands  were  accompanied  by  the 
threat  to  march  upon  Constantinople  with  60,000 
men,  if  they  were  not  immediately  granted.  Abdul 
Hamid  was  shocked.  Some  thought  he  would  commit 
suicide.  But  he  was  too  self-willed  and  shrewd ;  and 
not  without  some  hope  of  frustrating  their  plans.  He 
must  act  at  once.  There  was  no  chance  of  doing  any¬ 
thing  by  which  he  could  avoid  an  immediate  dis¬ 
aster.  He  must  have  time.  He  can  have  it  by  ap¬ 
parently  and  gracefully  yielding.  He  said  he  was 
now  sure  that  his  people  were  prepared  for  a  consti¬ 
tutional  government,  that  he  was  willing  to  govern 
the  nation  according  to  the  constitution. 

So  on  the  24th  of  July,  1908,  “by  the  command  of 
the  sultan,  telegrams  were  sent  to  all  divisions  of  the 
army  and  to  the  governors  of  the  provinces  announc¬ 
ing  that  his  Imperial  Majesty,  Sultan  Abdul  Hamid, 
was  graciously  pleased  to  proclaim  a  constitutional 
form  of  government.  The  people  were  dazed  and  be¬ 
wildered,  not  knowing  what  to  believe,  and  when 
reassured  their  outbursts  of  joy  defied  description. 
Turks,  Christians,  and  Jews  joined  indiscriminately 
in  their  joyful  demonstrations.” 

The  sultan  having  solemnly  sworn  that  he  would 
rule  as  a  constitutional  king  and  as  he  appeared  to 
be  doing  so,  he  was  permitted  to  remain  upon  the 
throne.  But  he  made  no  delay  in  attempting  to  over¬ 
throw  the  individuals  and  the  P arliament  as  a  whole. 
He  used  various  means  by  the  hands  of  his  under- 


284  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

lings  and  hirelings — softas  and  mullahs — to  whom 
he  shipped  unlimited  sums  of  money.  Within  nine 
months  Abdul  Hamid  succeeded  in  inducing  half  of 
the  garrison  of  Constantinople,  about  12,000  men,  to 
espouse  his  cause  and  rise  in  mutiny. 

On  the  night  of  April  13th,  1909,  these  mutinous 
soldiers  did  rise  and  fall  upon  their  officers.  They 
killed  some  of  them  and  imprisoned  others ;  then  they 
marched  into  the  streets,  and  went  over  to  Stamboul, 
and  took  possession  of  the  House  of  Parliament.  The 
president  of  parliament  and  the  minister  of  justice 
escaped  with  their  lives,  hut  other  ministers  fell  by 
the  assassins’  bullets.  Sultan  Hamid’s  success,  how¬ 
ever,  was  transient.  Within  a  week  the  Young  Turks 
rallied  and  hastened  their  forces  from  Albania  and 
Macedonia,  some  45,000  men  well  equipped  with 
artillery,  ammunition,  and  provisions.  On  the  23d 
of  April  the  commander  of  the  Young  Turkey  army 
heard  a  rumor  that  Sultan  Abdul  Hamid  in  disap¬ 
pointment  and  rage  had  planned  on  the  following  day 
a  general  massacre  of  Christians  and  his  opponents. 
General  Mohammed  Shevket  Pasha,  the  commander, 
moved  his  army  in  the  afternoon  and  night  of  the 
same  day. 

One  division  occupied  the  old  city,  Stamboul,  and 
the  other  division  marched  around  the  Golden  Horn 
and  moved  upon  Pera,  the  European  quarter  (on  the 
24th).  Here  the  defenders  of  Abdul  Hamid  showed 
considerable  resistance  and  a  severe  battle  followed, 
but  by  night  the  mutinous  soldiers  were  defeated,  and 
the  Young  Turkey  army  surrounded  the  hill  of  Yil- 


Revolution7  and  Massacres  of  Adana  285 

diz,  situated  three-quarters  of  a  mile  from  the  shore 
of  the  Bosphorus  and  separated  from  Pera  by  a 
valley.  He  was  deposed  from  caliphate  by  the 
Sheikh-ul-Islam.  He  was  dethroned  by  a  resolution 
of  Parliament.  On  the  morning  of  the  27  th,  the  sul¬ 
tan,  seeing  that  there  was  no  more  hope  for  him, 
surrendered.  “The  bodyguard  was  marched  out  and 
new  troops  were  sent  in.  That  night  several  young 
officers  went  to  the  palace  of  the  sultan  and  sum¬ 
moned  him  to  their  presence.  He  came  in,  pale  as  a 
sheet,  trembling  like  a  leaf,  and  begging  for  his  life. 
He  was  told  that  his  life  would  be  spared,  but  that 
for  the  good  of  the  country  he  must  leave  the  city 
that  night.  The  Young  Turks  dealt  mercifully  with 
the  cruel  monarch  and  allowed  him  to  choose,  as  his 
companions  in  exile,  eleven  women,  one  child,  two 
eunuchs,  and  five  servants.  These  were  placed  in  car¬ 
riages,  and  after  midnight  were  driven  to  the  railway 
station  in  Stamboul.  From  here  they  were  sent  by  a 
special  train  to  Salonica,  three  hundred  miles  west, 
and  were  consigned  to  a  strong  house  prepared  for 
him.”  1  This  ended  the  career  as  a  ruler  of  Abdul 
Hamid,  who  was  distinguished  for  his  cruelty,  per¬ 
fidy,  and  infamy. 

On  the  same  day  (the  13th  of  April,  1909)  that 
the  mutiny  took  place  in  Constantinople,  the  Mo¬ 
hammedans  of  the  city  and  province  of  Adana,  fell 
upon  the  Christian  inhabitants,  and  within  a  few 
days,  they  killed  the  people  and  looted  and  plundered 
their  property.  The  massacres  were  committed  in 

i  Greene,  “Leavening  the  Levant,”  pp.  41-2. 


286  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

the  following  places:  Adana,  Alexandretta,  Marash, 
Mersina,  Hadjin,  Kessab,  Zeitoon,  Kirikon,  and  all 
the  villages.  The  number  of  the  killed  was  esti¬ 
mated  from  25,000  to  50,000.  And  those  who  suf¬ 
fered  from  diseases  and  starvation  exceeded  150,000. 

The  xollowing  is  an  extract  from  a  letter  written 
by  Mrs.  Doughty  Wylie,  wife  of  the  British  Consul 

at  Adana.  It  was  published  in  the  London  Daily 
Mail: 

“We  are  having  a  perfectly  hideous  time  here.  Thou¬ 
sands  have  been  murdered — 25,000  in  this  province  they 
say ;  but  the  number  is  probably  greater,  for  every  Chris¬ 
tian  village  is  wiped  out.  In  Adana  about  5,000  have 
perished.  After  Turks  and  Armenians  had  made  peace, 
the  Turks  came  in  the  night  with  hose  and  kerosene 
and  set  fire  to  what  remained  of  the  Armenian  quarter. 
Next  day  the  French  and  Armenian  Schools  were  fired. 
N early  every  one  of  the  Armenian  Schools  perished,  any¬ 
body  trying  to  escape  being  shot  down  by  the  soldiers. 

The  Turkish  authorities  do  nothing  except  arrest 
unoffending  Armenians,  from  whom  by  torture  they 
extort  the  most  fanciful  confessions.  Even  the  wounded 
are  not  safe  from  this  injustice.  For  fiends  incarnate 
commend  me  to  the  Turks.  Nobody  is  safe  from  them. 
They  murder  babies  in  front  of  their  mothers,  they  half 
murder  men,  and  violate  the  wives  while  the  husbands 
are  lying  there  dying  in  pools  of  blood.  The  authorities 
did  nothing,  and  the  soldiers  were  worse  than  the  crowd, 
for  they  were  better  armed.  One  house  in  our  quarter 
was  burned  with  115  people  inside.  We  counted  the 
bodies.  Soldiers  set  fire  to  the  door  and  as  the  windows 
had  iron  bars,  nobody  could  get  out.  Every  one  in  the 
house  was  roasted  alive.  They  were  all  women  and  chil¬ 
dren  and  old  people.” 


Revolution  and  Massacres  of  Adana  287 

The  following  is  a  portion  of  a  letter,  by  Stephen 
Van  R.  Trowbridge.  It  describes  the  condition  of 
Kessab  and  the  surrounding  villages  after  the 
butchery : 

“Kessab  was  a  thrifty  Armenian  town  of  eight  thou¬ 
sand  inhabitants,  situated  on  the  landward  slope  of  Mt. 
Cassius  (Arabic,  Jebel  Akra)  which  stands  out  prom¬ 
inently  upon  the  Mediterranean  seacoast,  half  way  be¬ 
tween  Alexandretta  and  Latakia.  Kessab  is  now  a 
mass  of  blackened  ruins,  the  stark  walls  of  the  churches 
and  houses  rising  up  out  of  the  ashes  and  charred  timber 
heaped  on  every  side.  What  must  it  mean  to  the  five 
thousand  men,  women,  and  little  children  who  have 
survived  a  painful  flight  to  the  seacoast  and  now  re¬ 
turned  to  their  mountain  homes  sacked  and  burned! 
There  were  nine  Christian  villages  which  cloistered  about 
Kassab  in  the  valleys  below.  Several  of  them  have  been 
completely  destroyed  by  fire.  All  have  been  plundered 
and  the  helpless  people  driven  out  or  slain.” 

One  more  witness  of  the  crimes  committed  against 
humanity  and  Christianity  may  suffice.  Rev.  Or. 
Christie,  the  President  of  St.  Pauls  Institute,  Tar¬ 
sus,  wrote : 

April  24th,  1909.— T  doubt  if  ever  a  massacre  equal 
in  atrocities  to  this  has  been  known  in  history.  .  .  . 
Among  the  wounded  there  are  multitudes  of  men, 
women  and  children ;  we  hear  of  a  pastor  and  his  family, 
seven  people  burned  together  in  their  house;  hosts  of 
young  women  have  been  assaulted  and  caried  away  to 
harems,  and  their  names  changed  to  Moslem  ones. 
Christian  villages  like  Osmanieh,  Baghchi,  Hamidieh, 
Kara  Tash,  Kristian  Keoy,  Kozolook,  have  people  in 
each,  eighty  or  so  are  left,  nearly  all  women  and  chil- 


288  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

dren.  It  is  the  same  in  the  chiftliks  (farms) ;  there  are 
hundreds  of  these  on  this  wide  and  fertile  plain;  in 
every  one  that  we  have  heard  of  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Tarsus  or  Adana  there  has  been  unsparing  slaughter  of 
the  Christian  workers,  even  the  Greeks  and  Syrians 
dying  as  martyrs  with  the  Armenians. 

“The  annual  (Synodical)  meeting  was  to  have  been 
held  in  Adana.  So  the  pastors  and  delegates  of  the 
churches  were  on  the  road  to  the  north  and  east  of 
that  city  when  the  trouble  began.  We  have  now  the 
names  of  twenty-seven  killed  with  the  particulars  of 
their  deaths.  Twenty-two  churches  are  left  pastorless. 
It  is  a  fearful  blow.  Our  two  missionaries,  (Henry) 
Maurer  and  Daniel  M.  Eogers,  bring  the  number  up  to 
twenty-nine.” 

There  was  a  general  impression  at  the  time  of  the 
massacres  of  Adana,  that  the  butchery  and  plunder 
in  the  cities,  towns,  and  in  the  villages,  were  due  to 
the  reaction,  that,  “The  mutiny  and  the  massacre 
were  the  last  stroke  of  the  dying  monster  Sultan 
Abdul  Hamid.”  It  appeared  plausible,  and  it  was 
even  probable.  But  it  was  and  is  firmly  believed 
by  others  that  it  was  the  work  of  the  Young  Turks.1 
They  did  not  dethrone  Abdul  Hamid  because  he  was 
too  cruel  to  his  Christian  subjects.  Oh!  no.  They 
dethroned  him,  because  they  wanted  to  have  the  glory 
of  finishing  the  work  of  the  extermination  of  the  Ar¬ 
menian  nation.  The  Young  Turks  are  the  legitimate 
successors  of  Abdul  Hamid,  so  far  as  the  latter’s  de¬ 
termination  to  annihilate  the  Armenians  was  con¬ 
cerned,  and  this  massacre  was  another  step  towards 

1  It  was  established.  See  The  New  Armenian,  N.  Y.,  August  1,  1916, 
p.  260. 


Revolution  and  Massacres  of  Adana  289 

their  goal.  It  may  be  questioned  why  they  should 
do  such  a  thing  at  such  a  time.  The  answer  is  that, 
because  there  was  an  easy  and  plausible  way  of  shov¬ 
ing  off  the  responsibility  for  the  crime  on  the  monster 
Sultan  Abdul  Hamid.1  We  are  told  that  Talaat  Bey 
boasted  that  he  had  done  more  in  destroying  the 
Armenians  in  thirty  days  than  Abdul  Hamid  in 
thirty  years.  It  is,  moreover,  stated  that  when 
Talaat  Bey  gave  the  final  signal  for  the  massacre 
and  deportation  of  the  Armenians  in  1915,  he  said, 
“After  this  there  will  be  no  Armenian  question  for 
fifty  years.”  There  would  be  no  Armenian  question 
if  the  Young  Turks  intended  to  rule  and  run  the 
government  according  to  the  Constitution.  Arme¬ 
nians  would  have  been  satisfied  even  under  the  mon¬ 
archy  had  they  received  what  was  promised  to  them, 
namely,  religious  liberty,  the  protection  of  their  lives, 
honor,  and  property.  These,  oft-made  promises  ful¬ 
filled,  there  could  be  no  Armenian  question.  Why 
should  the  Young  Turks  resort  to  the  cruel  process  of 
annihilation  of  a  nation  to  solve  such  a  simple  prob¬ 
lem?  We  have  to  repeat  Vambery’s  words:  “The 
conviction  is  inevitable  that  until  the  power  of  Islam- 
ism  is  broken  the  true  reformation  of  this  land  is  an 
impossibility.”  (Whether  the  government  is  mon¬ 
archical  or  constitutional,  it  made  no  difference.) 
“At  whose  door  shall  we  lay  the  blame  of  cher¬ 
ishing  such  a  viper ?  (Eirst  at  England  s,  now  at 
Germany’s. ) 

i  Abdul  Hamid  died  on  the  10th  of  February,  1918. 


XVII 


THE  REIGN  OF  THE  YOUNG  TURKS 


AFTER  the  deposal  of  Abdul  Hamid,  his 
brother,  the  third  son  of  Sultan  Med j  id, 
was  put  upon  the  throne  of  the  Ottoman 
Empire,  as  Mohammed  V.  He  was  born  in  1844: 
he  is  now  the  head  of  a  constitutional  hereditary 
monarchy.  A  grand  vizier  is  appointed  by  the  sul¬ 
tan  who  forms  a  cabinet.  According  to  the  Moham¬ 
medan  law  and  tradition,  the  sultan  being  the  head 
of  both  the  state  and  religion,  he  also,  therefore, 
appoints  a  chief  to  act  as  the  head  of  the  Mohamme¬ 
dan  religion — Islam.  He  is  called  Sheikh-ul-Islam. 

“The  constitution  provides  for  a  Parliament  of  two 
houses,  the  Senate,  and  the  Chamber  of  Deputies.” 
For  administrative  purposes  the  empire  is  divided 
into  Vilayets  (states),  Sanjaks  (counties),  Cazas 
(districts),  and  Naheyes  (smaller  districts). 

The  rulers  of  these  divisions  are  respectfully 
called:  Vali,  Mutassarrif,  Kaymakam  and  Mudeer. 

Before  the  restoration  of  the  Constitution,  the 
Turkish  army  was  entirely  made  up  of  the  Moham¬ 
medans,  but  since  (1908)  non-Mohammedans  also 
were  drafted  into  the  army. 

From  the  beginning  of  the  new  regime,  the  Young 

290 


The  Reign,  of  the  Young  Turks  291 

Turks  have  been  having  some  troublesome  times.  The 
first  of  these  troubles  was  Austria’s  annexing  Bosnia 
and  Herzehovnia,  two  Turkish  provinces.1  The  in¬ 
habitants  of  these  provinces  were  mostly  of  Slavo¬ 
nian  origin,  mainly  speaking  the  Servian  language — 
excepting  the  Mohammedans,  whose  forefathers  wer9 
Christians,  but  who  after  the  Mohammedan  occupa¬ 
tion  of  the  country  in  1401,  and  in  1463,  had  ab¬ 
jured  their  faith  on  account  of  the  Turkish  oppres* 
sion. 

This  oppression  and  extortionate  taxation  caused  a 
revolution  of  the  Christians  in  1849,  but  this  rebel¬ 
lion  was  suppressed  by  Omar  Pasha.  A  more  de¬ 
termined  uprising  against  the  unjust  government  took 
place  in  1875.  This  the  Turks  failed  to  put  down, 
and  this  failure  led  to  the  occupation  of  these  prov¬ 
inces  by  Austria-Hungarians.  The  Treaty  of  Berlin 
entrusted  the  administration  of  these  provinces  to 
Austria-Hungary,  and  she  has  been  governing  since 
1880,  finally  annexing  them. 

This  annexation  was  not  resented  by  the  Young 
Turks  so  much  as  it  was  by  the  Bosnians  and  Ser¬ 
vians.  Their  desire  and  hopes  of  uniting  these  co¬ 
religionists  and  members  of  the  same  Slavonian  stock, 
were  now  ended.  This  resentment  was  intensified 
after  the  conquests  of  the  Servians  in  both  of  the 
Balkan  wars.  Some  of  these  Bosnians  and  Servians, 
who  had  been  thus  disappointed,  formed  a  conspiracy 
and  committed  the  awful  crime  of  assassination  of 
the  Archduke  Ferdinand  of  Austria,  and  his  wife, 


1  October,  1908. 


292  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

while  they  were  on  a  visit  to  Bosnia.  The  Servian 
government  was  accused  by  Austria  of  this  conspiracy 
and  assassination ;  then  came  Austria’s  ultimatum  to 
Servia  and  then  the  war. 

The  Powers  did  not  consult  the  governed ;  the 
Bosnians  wanted  to  unite  with  the  Servians  their 
kindred,  both  in  religion  and  race.  Why  should  not 
the  people  have  the  right  to  say  who  should  rule  over 
them  ?  The  refusal  to  allow  this  simple  act  of  jus¬ 
tice,  like  a  spark  set  the  world  on  fire. 

The  next  trouble  was  Bulgaria’s  declaration  of 
independence.1  Bulgaria  had  been  a  principality 
since  1878,  and  had  been  paying  annual  tribute  to 
the  Turkish  government.  Then  came  the  resistless 
demand  of  the  Greeks  of  Crete  to  unite  with  Greece. 
Then  the  war  between  Turkey  and  Italy  in  1911- 
1912. 

Still  worse  than  the  above  incidents  was  the  Balkan 
\vtii  betv  een  Turkey  on  one  side  and  the  Balkan 
States  and  Greece  on  the  other  side.  The  Balkan 
allies  were  Greece,  Bulgaria,  Servia,  and  Monte- 
nigro.  The  causes  of  this  war  were  just  the  same: 
the  Turkish  oppression  and  massacres,  and  the  in¬ 
effectual  meddling  of  the  European  powers.  “Mace¬ 
donia  was  ceded  by  Turkey  to  Bulgaria  in  1878 
pursuant  to  the  Treaty  of  San  Stefano,  but  the  Con¬ 
gress  of  Berlin  in  the  same  year  revised  (substituted) 
this  treaty  through  the  insistence  of  Great  Britain 
and  Austria,  and  restored  the  province  to  Turkev. 
In  article  XXIII  of  the  Treaty  of  Berlin,  the  sig- 

1  On  the  8th  of  Oct.,  1908 


The  Reign  of  the  Young  Turks  293 

natory  powers  bound  themselves  to  establish  an  or¬ 
ganic  law  providing  for  good  government  in  Mace¬ 
donia  and  to  see  that  it  was  applied.  During  thirty- 
four  years  that  followed,  this  promise  was  unfulfilled, 
despite  the  frequent  complaints  of  the  Christian  peo¬ 
ples — Bulgars,  Greeks,  and  Serbs — of  Turkish  mis- 
government  and  atrocities.  ”  1 

It  is  the  same  old  story.  The  Great  Powers  who 
made  the  treaty,  article  by  article,  and  signed  the 
instrument,  then  turned  and  left  the  Turks  to  do 
the  rest.  That  “rest”  was  for  them  to  go  on  as  usual 
until  the  four  Balkan  states  formed  an  alliance  and 
declared  war  against  Turkey  in  October  of  1912. 

The  war  was  fortunately  of  short  duration,  but 
it  was  the  most  decisive  and  humiliating  defeat  that 
the  Turks  had  received  for  a  long  time.  Macedonia 
was  freed  from  the  bloody  reign  of  the  Turks,  who 
for  nearly  five  hundred  years  had  held  that  beautiful 
country  under  their  iron  heel.  ISTearly  two  millions 
of  people,  three-fourths  of  whom  were  Christians, 
were  emancipated  from  a  worse  form  of  slavery.  The 
defeat  of  the  Turkish  armies  was  not  due  to  lack  of 
courage  of  the  Ottoman  soldiers.  It  was  solely  due 
to  the  Turkish  unpreparedness,  their  lack  of  organi¬ 
zation  and  arrangements  for  food  supply  for  the 
army,  and  to  the  inferiority  of  the  Turkish  artillery. 
The  non-Moslem  soldiers  for  the  first  time  fought 
alongside  of  the  Moslem  soldiers.  “The  bravery  and 
loyalty  of  the  Armenian  soldiers  in  the  Turco-Balkan 

1  The  New  International  Year  Book  for  the  Year  1912,  p.  734.  Dodd, 
Mead  &  Co.f  New  York. 


294  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

war  were  commended  by  Nazim  Pasha,  then  minister 
of  war.”  This  Turco-Balkan  war  ended  in  May, 
1913. 

As  the  consequence  of  this  war,  many  Mohamme¬ 
dans  from  Macedonia  left  their  homes,  unwilling  to 
become  subjects  of  their  former  “slaves.”  They 
crowded  into  Constantinople  and  other  places.  The 
Young  Turks  tried  to  settle  these  refugees  in  Asiatic 
provinces  of  the  empire  where  the  Armenian  popu¬ 
lations  made  the  majority.  The  object  of  the  Young 
Turkey  government  was  to  reduce  the  Armenian 
majority  so  as  to  prevent  them  from  asking  or  ex¬ 
pecting  any  local  reforms.  The  Armenians  protested 
through  their  representative — the  patriarch  and  the 
national  council. 

The  second  Balkan  war,  in  July,  1913,  was  a  very 
sad  one.  This  war  was  between  Bulgaria  and  her 
former  allies,  Turkey  and  Rumania.  This  war  was 
occasioned  by  the  unwillingness  of  the  victors  in  the 
former  war,  to  settle  the  division  of  the  conquered 
territory  by  mutual  concessions. 

These  successive  reverses  of  the  Young  Turks,  who 
so  easily  overthrew  the  despotic  reign  of  Abdul 
Hamid,  must  have  filled  their  enemies  at  home  with 
indignation  against  and  contempt  for  them.  Well 
may  they  have  said:  “Less  than  half  a  dozen  years, 
but  thousands  of  square  miles  of  land  and  millions 
of  peoples  have  been  lost  to  the  empire  both  in  Europe 
and  Africa  j  and  if  these  fools  will  rule  a  little  longer 
the  whole  empire  will  be  lost.”  So  shall  it  be.  They 
made  their  best  friends  abroad,  their  enemies  by  their 


The  Reign  of  the  Young  Turks  £95 

wicked  deeds.  Their  new  friends  abroad  were 
anxious  to  help  them  in  order  to  be  helped  by  them. 
Who  can  doubt  that  the  Young  Turks,  the  present 
rulers  of  the  Ottoman  empire,  longed  for  an  oppor¬ 
tunity  to  receive  the  approval  of  the  fanatics  at  home 
and  gladden  the  hearts  of  their  new  friends  abroad  ? 

The  opportunity  came.  The  European  war  broke 
out.  Even  before  the  war  the  Turkish  rulers  had 
planned  a  policy  of  unifying  and  Turkifying  the 
Moslem  State.  Their  experiences  with  the  Balkan 
nations  had  taught  a  lesson  that  they  would  not  soon 
forget.  But  they  did  not  start  their  work  at  once 
when  the  war  began.  They  had  another  scheme  or  use 
for  the  Armenians. 

“Before  declaring  war  upon  Russia,  the  Government 
of  the  Young  Turks  which  had  long  ago  decided  upon 
this  course,  sought  to  have  the  Armenians  instigate  a 
revolt  among  their  co-nationalists  in  the  Russian  prov¬ 
inces  of  the  Caucasus.  This  suggestion  was  presented 
to  the  Armenians  at  the  very  opening  of  the  war  by  a 
deputation  composed  of  Yadji  Bey,  Boukar-Eddin- 
Shakri  Bey,  and  Hilmi  Bey.  Some  Armenian  notables 
were  assembled  in  Erzerum  to  exchange  views  concern¬ 
ing  the  European  war  and  its  effects  upon  the  interests 
of  Armenia.  The  deputation  from  the  government  in 
Constantinople  visited  the  assembly  and  revealed  un¬ 
reservedly  the  reason  of  their  visit.  It  declared  that 
Enver  Pasha  and  his  colleagues  were  ready  to  declare 
war  upon  Russia  and  expected  from  the  Armenians  in¬ 
valuable  assistance.  The  Armenians  were  requested  to 
form  volunteer  legions  that,  with  the  Turkish  propa¬ 
gandists,  should  cross  the  Russian  frontier,  and  incite 
the  population  of  the  Caucasus  to  revolt.  Nadji  Bey 


296  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

was  so  sure  of  the  success  of  the  proposition  that  he 
had  brought  with  him  to  Erzerum  twenty-seven  Persian, 
Turkish,  and  Circassian  propagandists  who  with  the 
assistance  of  Armenian  volunteers  would  foment  dis¬ 
affection  in  the  Caucasus. 

“Hadji  Bey  spoke  in  a  tone  of  perfect  cordiality  and 
confidence.  He  described  in  glowing  terms  the  compen¬ 
sation  that  would  accrue  to  the  Armenians  if  their  ser¬ 
vices,  solicited  by  him,  were  forthcoming.  He  en¬ 
deavored  to  persuade  the  Armenians  that  a  revolution 
in  the  Causasus  was  inevitable.1  After  having  contrib¬ 
uted  to  the  victory,  the  Armenians  would  be  granted 
autonomy,  under  the  protection  of  Turkey,  thus  re¬ 
uniting  all  their  dispersed  compatriots  on  both  sides 
of  the  frontier.  Enver  Pasha’s  delegates  were  ready 
to  remake  the  map  of  the  Caucasus  by  a  single  stroke 
of  the  pen.  The  Georgians  and  the  Tartars  were  allotted 
their  share  of  the  territory,  and  the  Armenians  would 
receive  Kars,  the  province  of  Erivan,  Van,  and  Bitlis. 
But  the  Armenians  categorically  refused  these  attrac¬ 
tive  propositions  and  entrusted  Hadji  Bey  with  their 
advice  to  Enver  Pasha  not  to  become  embroiled  in  the 
European  catastrophe,  as  it  would  lead  to  the  downfall 
of  Turkey. 

“‘This  is  treason/  exclaimed  Bouka-Eddin-Shakri 
Bey.  ‘You  refuse  to  succor  the  Empire,  forgetting  that 
you  enjoy  its  hospitality/ 

“Notwithstanding  the  violent  objurgations,  the  Arme¬ 
nians  stood  firm  in  their  refusal. 

“However,  these  emissaries  of  the  Young  Turks  still 
hoped  to  convert  the  Armenians  to  their  views,  and  a 
few  weeks  later,  on  the  eve  of  the  declaration  of  war 
upon  Russia,  they  convoked  the  assemblies  of  notables 
in  all  the  vilayets,  and  once  more  presented  their  sug- 


1  Expected  by  the  Holy  War  that  was  to  be  declared  by  Sheikh-ul-Islam ; 
as  it  has  been  done  since  Turkey  joined  the  Central  Powers. 


The  Reign  of  the  Young  Turks  297 

gestions — this  time  considerably  modified.  They  no 
longer  demanded  that  the  Armenians  take  the  initiative 
of  an  uprising  in  the  Caucasus,  but  merely  endeavored 
to  convince  them  of  the  imminence  of  a  revolution  and 
of  the  advisability  of  their  joining  in  it.  For  the  second 
time  the  Armenians  remained  imperturbable  in  their 
refusal. 

“Finally  war  was  declared  between  Russia  and  Turkey. 
Would  the  Armenians  shirk  performing  their  military 
duty?  Not  at  all.  They  answered  the  call,  reporting 
at  the  mobilization  stations/51 

The  Armenians’  reform  movement  in  1912-3, 
under  the  presidency  of  Boghos  Nubar  Pasha,  who 
was  appointed  by  the  Catholicos,  was  a  peaceful 
effort  to  solicit  the  signatories  of  Berlin  Treaty 
(1878)  to  induce  the  Turkish  government  to  put  into 
execution  the  reforms  guaranteed  in  that  treaty  for 
Armenia. 

After  the  consent  of  all  the  Powers  was  obtained, 
then  “the  Russian  draft  [of  reforms]  was  revised  by 
the  ambassadors  of  the  Powers  at  Constantinople, 
accepted  with  modifications,  by  the  Young  Turkish 
Government,  and  actually  promulgated  by  them  on 
the  8th  of  February,  19 14. 2 

Could  such  a  peaceful  procedure  have  offered  the 
Young  Turks  an  excuse  of  provocation  for  their 
atrocities  committed  in  the  following  year  ? 

1  The  “Martyrdom  of  Armenia,”  by  Paul  Perrin,  in  The  New  Armenia, 
May  15,  1916,  New  York. 

2  “The  Treatment  of  Armenians  in  the  Ottoman  Empire,  1915-16,” 
Documents  presented  to  Viscount  Grey  by  Viscount  Bryce,  p.  635,  London. 


0 


XVIII 


THE  MASSACRES  OF  1915-16 


P^HEEE  were  two  things  which  induced  the 
Young  Turks  to  declare  war  on  the  Allies 
in  the  latter  part  of  October,  1914.  They 
were  positive  of  a  victory  as  the  early  events  of  the 
war  and  agents  of  the  Teutonic  alliance  easily  could, 
and  did,  persuade  them.  The  assurance  of  conquests 
and  would-be  acquisition  of  territories,  which  would 
restore  to  the  Young  Turkish  government  its  lost 
prestige  both  at  home  and  abroad.  But  their  dreams 
were  not  speedily  realized,  and  probably  never 
will  be. 

The  real  reasons,  however,  for  the  beginning  of 
the  massacres  at  this  time  were  the  opportune  mo¬ 
ment,  the  European  war;  the  carrying  out  a  former 
well-laid  policy  of  a  unified  and  Turkified  State ;  the 
diversion  of  the  attention  of  the  Moslem  populace 
from  failures  and  mistakes  of  the  Young  Turks,  and 
the  congeniality  of  the  work  of  plunder  and  murder 
which  very  few  followers  of  Mohammed  would  refuse 
to  enjoy.  They  delight  to  see  Christians  and  Chris¬ 
tianity  trampled  under  their  feet.  Thus  the  Young 
Turks,  the  rulers  of  Turkey,  gave  the  greatest  pleas¬ 
ure  to  a  large  number  of  Mohammedans  by  assigning] 

298 


The  Massacres  of  1915-16  299 

to  them  the  work  of  annihilation  of  the  oldest  Chris-  j 
tian  nation  in  the  empire.  j 

The  sufferings  of  the  Armenians  began  right  after 
the  declaration  of  war — or  rather  simultaneously  j 
with  it.  All  the  males  between  the  ages  of  twenty 
and  forty-five,  and  soon  those  of  eighteen  to  fifty, 
were  called  to  arms.  Some  paid  commutation  in 
place  of  enrolment,  and  others  who  had  passed  the 
age  of  military  training  before  the  ratification  of  the 
new  military  service  law  of  1908,  as  were  entitled 
to  exemption,  as  long  as  they  paid  the  annual  com¬ 
mutation  tax.  Yet  these  also  were  drafted  in  viola¬ 
tion  of  their  rights.  However,  they  were  not  left 
in  the  army  very  long,  but  were  deprived  of  their 
arms  by  order  of  the  government,  and  put  into  groups 
of  laborers  to  work  on  the  roads.  A  “gang  of  un¬ 
scrupulous  ruffians,”  had  control  of  the  Turkish  gov¬ 
ernment,  but  whether  they  had  not  quite  matured 
their  plans,  or  whether  they  were  in  consultation 
with  their  foreign  advisers,  or  whether  they  hesitated 
to  put  their  plans  into  action,  they  waited  until  the 
spring. 

The  massacres  began  in  the  spring  of  1915,  but/ 
even  before  massacres  immediately  after  the  decla¬ 
ration  of  war,  the  Turkish  government  also  pro? 
claimed  “a  holy  war”— jehad.  In  the  fewest  words; 
a  holy  war  is  this:  Ever  since  the  reign  of  Sultan 
Selim  I,  the  Sultans  of  Turkey  claimed  a  lawful 
successorship  to  the  Caliphs  of  Baghdad  and  the  Sul¬ 
tans  of  Egypt.  The  Sultan  of  Turkey  is  the  head 

1  See  the  footnote  on  p.  129. 


300  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

of  Islam  and  the  defender  thereof.  Whenever,  there¬ 
fore,  the  Mohammedan  faith  is  in  danger,  the  Sultan, 
the  pretended  successor  of  Mohammed,  theoretically 
has  the  power  to  call  upon  the  faithful  throughout 
the  world  to  rise  in  arms  against  the  enemies  of  their 
religion. 

The  Turkish  government  was  induced  by  her  allies 
not  only  to  enter  this  terrible  conflict,  but  also  to 
proclaim  this  holy  war.  The  object  of  the  latter  was 
to  rouse  the  passions  of  the  Mohammedans  throughout 
the  world  against  those  powers  which  were  fighting 
the  Turco-Teutonic  alliance,  with  the  hope  of  creat¬ 
ing  disastrous  revolts  in  British,  French,  and  Russian 
possessions,  where  about  150,000,000  Mohammedan 
subjects  were  peacefully  living.  The  following  ex¬ 
ultant  announcement  was  made  from  Berlin  by  the 
German  government,  on  November  20th,  1914: 

“From  all  sections  of  Egypt  come  reports  of  enthu¬ 
siastic  manifestations  in  favor  of  a  holy  war.  The 
Sheikh-ul-Islam  has  communicated  with  a  majority  of 
the  Mohammedan  princes  of  Asia  and  Africa,  who  de¬ 
clare  they  will  assist  Turkey  in  a  war  against  Eng¬ 
land.”1 

We  are  glad  to  say  that,  as  is  now  well  known, 
this  project  completely  failed  in  those  countries  where 
it  would  have  done  the  most  harm,  but  it  had  its 
dire  consequences  in  Persia.  Immediately  after 
their  declaration  of  war  on  the  Allies  the  Turks  took 
j  the  offensive  on  a  large  scale.  One  army  invaded  the 
Russian  territory,  and  another  crossed  the  Persian 

1  See  The  North  American  (Phila.),  Mar.  8,  1915. 


The  Massacres  of  1916-16  301 

frontier  and  entered  the  province  of  Azerbaijan.  In 
this  province  were  many  Syrians  (Nestorians)  and 
Armenians,  who  were  living  in  villages  and  towns. 
These  Syrian  Christians — like  the  Armenians — have 
suffered  many  vicissitudes,  including  massacres  by 
the  hands  of  the  Turks  and  Hurds.  But  the  Turkish 
invasion  and  short  occupation  of  this  province  in  win¬ 
ter  and  early  spring  brought  new  horrors  upon  the 
Christian  inhabitants  both  Armenians  and  Syrians. 

The  moment  hostilities  broke  out,  the  Turco- 
Kurdish  soldiery  began  to  indulge  itself  in  atrocities. 
The  Persian  province  of  Azerbaijan  contains  a  large 
population  of  Syriac  Christians,  and  the  suffering  of 
these  people  at  the  hands  of  the  invading  hordes  are 
described  with  terrible  detail  in  letters  from  German 
missionaries1  resident  among  them,  letters  which  I 
were  published  on  October  18  (1915),  in  the  Dutch 
newspaper  de  Neimve  Rotterdamshe  C our ant.  From 
the  contents  of  these  letters  we  select  the  following : 

“The  latest  news  is  that  4000  Syrians  and  one  hun¬ 
dred  Armenians  have  died  of  disease  alone,  at  the  mis¬ 
sions,  within  the  last  few  months.  All  villages  in  the 
surrounding  districts,  with  two  or  three  exceptions,  have 
been  plundered  and  burnt,  20,000  Christians  have  been 
slaughtered  in  Ourmia  and  its  environs.  Many  churches 
have  been  destroyed  and  burnt,  and  also  many  houses  in 
the  town.  ...” 

And  here  is  a  decription  from  another  letter: 

“In  Hoftewan  and  Solast  850  corpses,  without  heads, 
have  been  recovered  from  the  wells  and  cisterns  alone. 


1  Members  of  the  “  Deutsch  Orient-Mission.” 


302  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

Why?  Because  the  commanding  officer  had  put  a  price 
on  every  Christian  head.  In  Hoftewan  alone  more  than 
500  women  and  girls  were  delivered  to  the  Kurds  at 
Sandjbulak.  One  can  imagine  the  fate  of  these  unfor¬ 
tunate  creatures.  In  Diliman  crowds  of  Christians  were 
thrown  into  prison  and  compelled  to  accept  Islam.  The 
men  were  circumcised.  Gulpardjin,  the  richest  village 
in  the  Ourmia  province,  has  been  razed  to  the  ground. 
The  men  were  slain,  the  good-looking  women  and  girls 
carried  away.  The  same  in  Babaru.  Hundreds'  of 
women  jumped  into  the  deep  river,  when  they  saw  how 
many  of  their  sisters  were  violated  by  the  bands  of 
brigands,  in  broad  daylight,  in  the  middle  of  the  road. 
So  also  at  Miandoab  in  the  Suldus  district.”  1 

Dr.  Sargis,  an  Armenian  by  nationality,  a  Persian 
by  birth,  and  an  American  citizen  by  choice,  was 
doing  medical  missionary  work  in  Persia.  He  has 
recently  returned  by  way  of  Russia.  He  stated,  that 
in  the  city  of  Urumia  alone,  ten  thousand  copies  of 
the  proclamation  of  the  “holy  war”  were  received 
and  distributed  among  the  Mohammedans.  Hr.  Sar¬ 
gis  further  stated  in  an  interview2  as  follows: 

“Followers  of  Mohammed  have  been  expecting  a  ‘holy 
war’  for  ages.  They  have  been  taught  to  expect  the 
coming  of  Mehdi,  their  Messiah,  and  the  spread  of 
Mohammed  rule  over  the  earth.  Now  they  are  preach¬ 
ing  in  their  mosques  that  Emperor  William  of  Germany 
is  Mehdi.”  He  further  stated  that  German  soldiers 
foster  this  fanaticism,  until  the  Mohammedan  has  the 
idea  that  the  kaiser  and  all  Germany  have  been  eon- 

1  Toynbee,  “Armenian  Atrocities,”  pp.  85-86.  Published  by  Hodder 
and  Stoughton,  London  and  New  York. 

2  This  interview  was  published  in  The  North  American,  Phila.,  Feb.  14, 
1916. 


303 


The  Massacres  of  1915-16 

verted  to  Islam.  Officers  of  German  army  wear 
bands  on  their  arms  with  the  creed  of  Islam — ‘There 
is  only  one  God  and  Mohammed  is  His  prophet/  At 
Ispahan  the  German  officers  enter  the  mosque  and  say 
Mohammedan  prayers.  The  massacres  in  Urumia  began 
a  year  ago,  after  the  withdrawal  of  the  Russian  troops. 
The  Russians  had  been  gone  only  five  hours  when  the 
murder  and  plunder  began.  Of  the  113  Christian  vil¬ 
lages  in  Persia,  not  one  escaped. 

“In  Ada  was  an  Armenian  merchant,  Havil  by  name. 

.  .  .  Havil  was  shot  down  in  the  street,  both  legs 
broken  and  he  lay  helpless  until  he  died.  Death  didn’t 
come  soon  enough,  however,  to  prevent  him  seeing  his. 
eigbt-y ear-old  daughter  captured  by  the  fanatic  Kurds 
and  outraged  before  his  eyes.  That  happened  on  Janu¬ 
ary  3,  1915. 

“In  the  town  of  Kousi  was  a  very  old  Christian 
church.  The  fanatics  entered  it,  took  the  Bible  from 
the  pulpit,  tore  out  its  pages  and  carpeted  the  floor  with 
them.  Here  they  led  hundreds  of  girls  and  women — 
many  of  whom  never  left  the  building. 

“At  Gulpashan,  seventy-nine  men  were  tied  hand  to 
hand  and  killed.  Not  one  girl  in  the  village  escaped. 
The  Turkish  officers  entered  one  home  and  carried  off 
several  girls,  who  were  weeping  around  the  body  of  their 
brother,  a  victim  of  the  massacre. 

“At  a  house  in  Urumia,  where  I  was  called  to  treat 
an  army  officer,  I  found  a  girl.  She  told  me  she  had 
been  brought  there  from  a  nearby  Armenian  village, 
which  had  been  raided.  Then  days  before  the  massacre 
she  had  been  married,  and  she  saw  her  husband  killed 
before  her  eyes.  She  was  taken  to  the  city  and  held  there 
by  three  officers.  I  got  them  to  release  her,  but  she  died 
— she  had  suffered  too  much. 

“A  Turkish  soldier  killed  a  young  Armenian  at  Garo^ 
jaln  and  carried  off  his  wife  and  two  small  children,  a 
boy  and  a  girl.  In  leaving  the  city,  the  soldiers  had  to 


304  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

cross  a  bridge  spanning  the  river.  The  soldiers  dropped 
the  two  children  into  the  river,  one  on  either  side  of 
the  bridge,  and  led  the  mother  away  captive. 

“There  was  a  Catholic  priest,  Yahmaruvi,  who  had 
endeared  himself  to  the  people  of  the  village.  He  acted 
as  peacemaker  in  the  quarrels  between  the  Armenians 
and  the  Mohammedans.  All  Christians  in  the  village 
were  slaughtered  but  this  priest.  The  soldiers  came  and 
told  him  if  he  became  a  priest  of  Islam  they  would  let 
him  live,  because  even  the  Mohammedans  in  the  village 
loved  him.  They  tried  to  get  the  old  priest  to  repeat 
their  creed.  He  started  with  them :  "There  is  only  one 
God— and  Jesus  Christ,  His  son,  is  my  Saviour/  the 
priest  uttered  at  the  end.  They  cut  off  his  head.  .  .  .” 

A  doctor  by  name  Shimmon  was  educated  in  this 
country  and  naturally  became  a  citizen.  Of  him  Dr. 
Sargis  said :  “They  tried  to  get  him  to  renounce  Chris¬ 
tianity.  When  he  refused,  they  poured  oil  on  his  body 
and  set  fire  to  him.” 

Dr.  W.  S.  Vanneman,  the  head  of  the  mission  hos¬ 
pital  at  Tabris,  Persia,  wrote  to  the  Board  of  Foreign 
Missions  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  FT.  Y.  City, 
under  date  of  March  14,  1915: 

“ About  ten  days  ago  the  Kurds  in  Salmas,  with  the 
permission  of  the  Turkish  troops,  gathered  all  the  Hes- 
torian  and  Armenian  men  remaining  there,  it  is  re¬ 
ported,  about  eight  hundred.  Four  hundred  were  sent 
to  Khosrova  and  four  hundred  to  Haft  Dewan  under 
the  pretense  of  giving  them  bread.  They  were  held 
a  few  days  and  then  tortured  and  massacred.  Many 
women  and  children  were  taken  away  and  ill-treated. 
This  happened  a  day  or  two  before  the  advancing  Kus- 
sian  army  took  Salmas. 

“We  are  very  anxious  about  ITrumia.  A  letter  dated 
March  1st  from  Dr.  Shedd  came  through  two  days  ago. 


305 


The  Massacres  of  1915-16 

He  said  things  were  getting  worse.  Gulpashan,  which 
hitherto  had  not  been  disturbed,  had  been  plundered 
and  ruined.  I  think  this  was  the  only  village  which 
remained.  Fifty-one  of  the  most  prominent  men  of  this 
village  were  taken  out  and  shot.  The  women  and  girls 
were  violated.  This  was  done  by  the  Turkish  soldiers. 

“Forty  men  had  been  taken  from  the  Roman  Catho¬ 
lic  mission  in  Urumia  city,  kept  prisoners  a  few  days, 
then  shot.” 

Under  date  of  March  21,  Doctor  Vanneman  wrote: 

“We  are  more  anxious  than  ever  about  Urumia.  On 
March  17th,  Turkish  troops  attacked  our  mission  and 
the  Roman  Catholic  mission  and  took  five  native  Rus¬ 
sian  priests  from  our  compound  and  treated  them  badly. 
We  do  not  know  yet  if  they  were  killed.  Mr.  Allen  was 
also  treated  badly  because  he  had  sent  out  three  mes¬ 
sengers  away  from  Urumia. 

“Some  native  Christian  preachers  have  been  crucified 
and  some  burned.  ...” 

The  testimonies  of  the  German  and  American  mis¬ 
sionaries  confirm  and  supplement  one  another,  and 
show  the  fearful  results  of  the  holy  war.  For  the 
Persian  Armenians  and  Uestorians — Persia  itself — 
had  nothing  to  do  with  Turkey.  But  the  object  of  the 
Young  Turks  and  their  allies  was  to  arouse  the 
Mohammedans  of  Persia — the  only  Mohammedan 
power  besides  Turkey — against  Russia,  and  Turks 
and  Tatars  in  Transcaucasia,  and  that  thus  they 
might  spread  the  fire  of  the  holy  war.  But  they  have 
signally  failed  in  the  main. 

When  the  Turkish  army  had  to  retreat  from  Persia 
before  the  advancing  Russians  and  fell  back  into 


306  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation  i 

Armenia  proper  in  Turkish  territory,  they  let  loose 
the  demons — the  Turkish  regular  and  Kurdish  ir¬ 
regular  troops  upon  the  Armenian  population.  Their 
barbarities,  outrages,  mutilations,  murders,  the  de¬ 
vastations  of  numerous  Armenian  villages,  by  the 
sword  and  fire,  are  beyond  the  possibility  of  descrip¬ 
tion.  The  few  that  could  escape  came  to  Van  and 
|  told  the  people  of  the  horrors  they  witnessed  and 
passed  through. 

The  Armenians  of  Van  knew  that  the  same  fate 
would  soon  come  to  them.  What  should  they  do? 
Be  loyal,  submissive,  passive,  be  butchered  by  the 
Turkish  soldiers  and  by  their  inveterate  enemies,  the 
Kurds?  Or  should  they  make  an  attempt  of  self- 
defense,  and  let  it  cost  the  Turks  and  Kurds  some¬ 
thing  more  than  the  mere  time,  labor  and  ammu¬ 
nition  to  massacre  the  Armenians  of  Van?  And 
that  even  if  they  should  be  declared  rebels  against  the 
lawful  authorities  by  the  Prussian  and  Turkish 
officials?  They  decided  upon  the  latter.  And  they 
did  not  decide  too  soon  either.  Por  on  the  20th  of 
April,  Jevdet  Bey,  the  governor  of  Van,  and  the 
Turkish  soldiers  commenced  an  attack  on  the  city. 
The  Armenians  armed  themselves  as  best  they  could, 
and  making  such  barricades  and  defenses  as  time 
and  materials  could  permit,  they  stood  a  siege  of 
twenty-seven  days — only  about  1500  defenders 
against  5000  assailants  well  equipped  with  artillery. 
The  Turks  and  Kurds  on  hearing  of  a  Russian  force 
approaching  left  them  and  fled  southward.  On  the 
17th  of  May,  the  Russians  occupied  Van. 


The  Massacres  of  1915-16  307 

This  is  one  of  only  two  instances  where  the  Arme¬ 
nians  disappointed  the  Turkish  government  and  her 
Teutonic  and  Kurdish  allies,  and  deprived  them  of 
the  pleasure  of  massacring  the  Christians.  Ko  won¬ 
der  that  in  the  face  of  such  instances  Count  Ernst 
von  Reventlow  resented  the  American  protest  against 
Turkish  massacres  of  the  Armenians.  We  reproduce 
only  one  paragraph  from  Reventlow’s  article : 1 

“Indeed,  the  Turkish  empire  has  been  long  enough 
compelled  to  allow  all  powers  who  would  destroy  and 
rob  her  have  their  say  in  her  affairs.  To-day  the  time 
for  this  is  past.  It  will  be  past  for  ever,  so  soon  as  the 
German  empire  takes  up  determinedly  the  standpoint 
that  the  question  as  to  what  it  intends  to  do  with  the 
bloodthirsty  Armenians  is  one  that  concerns  her  Turkish 
ally  alone.” 

Resuming  our  doleful  narrative  in  this  Section, 
we  regret  to  say  that  the  first  occupation  of  Van  by 
the  Russians  was  not  the  last.  For  towards  the  end 
of  July,  the  Turks,  being  strongly  reinforced,  took 
the  offensive  and  succeeded  in  occupying  Van.  Al¬ 
though  the  Turkish  offensive  and  occupation  of  Van 
lasted  only  a  short  time — about  three  weeks — yet 
within  that  time  they  exterminated  all  the  Armenians 
behind  their  lines,  and  in  the  country  through  which 
they  marched.  The  retiring  Russians,  however,  con¬ 
tested  stubbornly  every  mile  of  ground,  and  gained 
time  for  the  Armenians  to  escape  the  country,  while 
the  Russians  fought  rear-guard  actions  and  held  back 

1  Von  Reventlow’s  article  was  published  in  the  Deutsche  Tages  Zeitung, 
reported  in  the  Dailies.  I  quote  from  the  North  American,  Oct.  15,  1915. 


308  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

the  Turks  and  Kurds  from  cutting  the  line  of  retreat 
of  the  Armenian  refugees.  The  sufferings  of  those 
panic-stricken  people  were  terrible.  One  of  the  Ger¬ 
man  missionaries,  in  Persia,  wrote: 

“On  the  road,  I  found  four  little  children.  The 
mother  sat  on  the  ground,  her  back  resting  against  a 
wall.  The  hollow-eyed  children  ran  up  to  me,  stretching 
out  their  hands  and  crying  ‘Bread !  Bread  V  When  I 
came  closer  to  the  mother,  I  saw  that  she  was  dying.” 

Here  is  a  brief  description  of  the  whole  scene: 

“I  wonder  if  it  is  possible  to  witness  a  more  agoniz¬ 
ing  sight  than  the  present  one.  Human  beings  are 
dying  in  hundreds  from  hunger,  thirst,  and  exhaustion, 
and  the  means  for  relieving  the  distress  are  very  scanty. 
There  is  absolutely  no  possibility  of  even  buying  bread. 
The  first  contingent  of  refugees  has  already  reached 
this  place  (Igdir).  Owing  to  congestion  on  the  roads, 
the  human  tide  had  to  be  broken  up  into  two  channels; 
about  100,000  walked  through  the  plain  of  Abagha,  their 
rear  being  guarded  by  the  Russian  army  under  General 
N.  and  the  Armenian  regiments  under  Andrianig  and 
Hero;  another  50,000  from  the  city  of  Van  were  diverted 
into  Persia,  their  rear  being  defended  by  the  mounted 
regiments  of  Keri  and  Hamazasp.  Bloody  rear-guard 
actions  are  being  fought  to  stem  the  Turks  and  Kurds, 
who  are  pressing  forward  in  order  to  cut  the  line  of 
retreat  of  the  Armenians.” 

We  will  at  present  leave  these  suffering  thousands 
in  the  hands  of  their  sympathizing  friends,  the  Rus¬ 
sians,  and  the  Russian  Armenians,  and  return  to 
Armenia  to  see  the  condition  of  those  who  could  not 
flee  the  country. 


The  Massacres  of  1915-16 


309 


The  news  of  what  was  taking  place  behind  the 
Turkish  army  lines  reached  the  Novaye  Vryemya 
of  Petrograd  on  July  2 2d. 

“The  Turkish  atrocities  in  the  district  of  Bitlis  are 
indescribable.  After  having  massacred  the  whole  male 
population  of  this  district,  the  Turks  collected  9000 
women  and  children  from  the  surrounding  villages,  and 
drove  them  in  upon  Bitlis.  Two  days  later  they  marched 
them  out  tc  the  bank  of  the  Tigris,  shot  them  all,  and 
threw  the  9000  corpses  into  the  river. 

“On  the  Euphrates,  the  Turks  have  cut  down  more 
than  1000  Armenians,  throwing  their  bodies  into  the 
river.  At  the  same  time,  four  battalions  were  ordered 
to  march  upon  the  valley  of  Moosh  to  finish  with  the 
12,000  Armenians  inhabiting  this  valley.  According 
to  the  latest  information,  the  massacre  has  already 
begun.  .  .  .  All  the  Armenians  in  the  Diarbekir  region 
will  likewise  be  massacred.” 

Here  is  another  instance  of  suppressing  the  Arme¬ 
nian  rebellion.  The  detailed  news  was  published  on 
September  4th,  by  the  Armenian  journal,  Gotch - 
nag  of  New  York: 

“Incredible  news  comes  in  about  the  massacres  at 
Bitlis.  In  one  village  1000  Armenians — men,  women, 
and  children — have  been  crowded  into  a  wooden  house, 
and  the  house  set  on  fire.  In  another  large  village  of 
the  district,  only  thirty-six  people  have  escaped  the 
massacre.  In  another,  they  roped  together  men  and 
women  by  dozens,  and  threw  them  into  the  Lake  of  Yan. 
A  young  Armenian  of  Bitlis,  wrho  was  in  the  army, 
and  who,  after  being  disarmed  and  employed  on  road¬ 
making,  succeeded  in  escaping  and  reaching  Yan,  relates 
that  the  ex-vali  of  Yan,  Djevdet  Bey,  has  had  males 


310  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

between  the  ages  of  fifteen  and  forty  massacred  at  Bitlis. 
He  has  had  their  families  deported  in  the  direction  of 
Sert,  but  has  kept  with  him  all  the  prettiest  girls. 
Bitlis  is  now  occupied  ly  tens  of  thousands  of  Turkish 
and  Kurdish  mouhadjirs  (refugees).” 

The  condition  of  affairs  in  northwestern  and  west¬ 
ern  Armenia  and  in  the  provinces  of  Asia  Minor 
was  not  any  better.  It  was,  in  fact,  a  great  deal 
worse.  Because  there  was  no  Russian  army  to  pro¬ 
tect  them,  or  in  case  of  danger,  to  take  them  into  a 
friendly  country,  no  matter  with  what  terrible  hard¬ 
ships  they  may  get  there.  They  were  absolutely  help¬ 
less  and  completely  at  the  mercy  of  the  ruthless 
cruelty  of  the  Turkish  officials  and  mobs. 

In  April,'  the  central  government,  from  Constanti¬ 
nople,  sent  orders  to  the  local  authorities  in  Armenia 
and  Asia  Minor  to  the  effect  that  the  Armenians 
having  been  found  to  be  a  great  danger  to  the  security 
of  the  state,  they  should  be  severely  suppressed  in 
advance  in  order  that  they  might  be  made  harmless, 
and  the  empire  might  be  safe.  Most  of  the  local 
authorities  at  once  understood  what  the  orders  meant, 
and  were  not  slow  to  undertake  the  work.  The  orders 
were  carried  out  in  the  following  manner : 

On  an  appointed  day,  the  governor  of  a  town  or 
city,  whichever  it  might  happen  to  be,  summoned  all 
able  bodied  men  of  Armenian  race  to  present  them¬ 
selves  either  in  a  government  building  or  some  such 
designated  place.  A  sufficient  number  of  police  and 
gendarmes  are  on  hand  to  see  that  this  demand  is 
obeyed  by  all.  If  any  Armenian  has  the  audacity 


The  Massacres  of  1915-16 


311 


to  disobey,  be  is  dragged  there  by  force.  Then  these 
men  were  led  into  a  lonely  spot  and  were  disposed  of. 
The  gendarmes  or  the  police  who  did  the  work  of 
execution  returned  into  the  town.  If  the  number 
was  too  large  to  take  them  all  at  once,  the  process 
was  repeated  until  all  the  work  was  done  in  the  same 
manner. 

Following  is  the  description  of  one  of  scores  of  its 
kind : 

“In  the  town  of  Agantz  a  list  of  those  to  be  executed 
was  sent  to  the  local  governor,  and  2500  (men)  were 
summoned  to  appear  at  the  governor’s  house  and  listen 
to  the  reading  of  a  proclamation.  The  natives  knew 
the  meaning  of  the  order,  and  many  of  them  ignored 
it.  They  were  later  dragged  to  prison  by  gendarmes 
and  held  for  execution. 

“It  is  conservatively  estimated  that  2500  listed  men 
were  held  in  prison  here.  They  were  taken  out  in  groups 
of  fifty,  led  to  a  trench  and  there  shot  down.  The 
fifty  dead  were  tossed  to  one  side,  a  fresh  group  of  fifty 
led  to  the  trench.  This  tremendous  execution  was  con¬ 
tinued  until  the  entire  2500  men  were  massacred.” 

One  more  instance : 

.  .  One  night  towards  the  end  of  June  (1915), 
suddenly,  without  any  warning,  the  houses  of  most  of 
all  of  the  Armenians  who  still  remained  in  the  city  were 
forcibly  entered  by  the  police  and  gendarmes.  The  men 
were  arrested  and  held  as  prisoners  in  the  soldiers’  bar¬ 
racks  at  one  side  of  the  city.  Their  whole  number 
amounted  to  1213.1  Two  more  of  our  leading  Armenian 

1  The  Armenian  population  of  this  city  was  12,000,  but  all  the  males 
between  18  and  50  were  drafted  into  the  army  and  taken  away  before 

this. 


312  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

professors  were  arrested  on  this  occasion.  .  .  . 99  These 
men  “were  told  that  they  were  to  be  sent  away  into 
exile  at  Mosul,  in  the  deserts  of  Mesopotamia,  six  or 
seven  hundred  miles  away.  .  .  .  These  1213  men, 
after  being  held  for  a  few  days,  were  bound  together  in 
small  groups  of  five  or  six  men  each,  and  sent  off  at 
night  in  companies  of  from  fifty  to  one  hundred  fifty 
under  the  escort  of  gendarmes.  Some  fifteen  miles  from 
the  city  they  were  set  upon  by  the  gendarmes  and  by 
bondsmen  called  chettes  and  cruelly  murdered  with 
axes.  .  .  .  One  of  the  gendarmes  who  helped  drive 
away  these  1213  men  boasted  to  our  French  teacher  that 
he  had  killed  fifty  Armenians  with  his  own  hands,  and 
had  obtained  from  them  150  Turkish  Pounds.  The 

chief  of  police  at - stated  that  none  of  these  1213 

men  remained  alive.  Our  Consular  Agent  visited  the 
place  of  this  slaughter  early  in  August,  and  brought 
back  with  him  Turkish  ‘Nufus  tezkereses /  identifica¬ 
tion  papers,  taken  from  the  bodies  of  the  victims.  I 
personally  saw  these  papers.  They  were  all  besmeared 
with  blood.” 

There  is  no  need  to  tell  the  same  monotonous  tale 
of  most  fiendish  murders  which  took  place  all  over 
Armenia  and  Asia  Minor  wherever  the  Armenians 
were  found ;  and  the  local  authorities  with  scrupulous 
exactness  obeyed  the  behests  of  their  superiors,  the 
arch  fiends  at  Constantinople.  Some  of  our  Prussian 
friends,  in  spite  of  all,  still  say :  “If  the  Porte  deems 
it  necessary  that  the  Armenian  rebellions  and  other 
riotous  proceedings  be  repressed  with  all  available 
means,  so  that  a  repetition  becomes  impossible,  such 
actions  are  not  to  be  designated  either  as  murders  or 
as  atrocities.  They  are  simply  justifiable  and  neces¬ 
sary  measures.  .  .  . 99 


The  Massacres  of  1915-16 


313 


Woe  to  the  men,  women  and  children  of  the  Arme¬ 
nian  race,  that  have  been  judged  and  dealt  with  by  the 
Prussian  sense  of  justice !  The  Belgians  in  the  West, 
the  Armenians  in  the  East  were  treated  by  the  same 
Prussian  sense  of  justice. 

Here  is  another  instance  of  the  “bloodthirsty  Ar¬ 
menian  rebellions”  whose  suppression  is  “simply 
justifiable  and  necessary,”  as  Count  Ernst  von  Re- 
ventlow  says: 

“To  give  one  instance  of  the  thorough  and  remorse¬ 
less  way  in  which  the  massacres  were  carried  out,  it 
may  suffice  to  refer  to  the  case  of  Trebizond,  a  case 
vouched  for  by  the  Italian  Consul,  who  was  present 
when  the  slaughter  was  carried  out,  his  country  not 
having  then  declared  war  against  Turkey.  Orders  came 
from  Constantinople  that  all  the  Armenian  Christians 
in  Trebizond  were  to  be  killed.  Many  of  the  Moslems 
tried  to  save  their  Christian  neighbors,  and  offered  them 
shelter  in  their  houses,  but  the  Turkish  authorities  were 
implacable.  Obeying  the  orders  which  they  had  re¬ 
ceived,  they  hunted  out  all  the  Christians,  gathered  them 
together,  and  drove  a  great  crowd  of  them  down  the 
streets  of  Trebizond,  past  the  fortress,  to  the  edge  of 
the  sea.  There  they  were  all  put  on  board  sailing  boats, 
carried  out  some  distance  on  the  Black  Sea,  and  there 
thrown  overboard  and  drowned.  Nearly  the  whole  Ar¬ 
menian  population  of  from  8000  to  10,000  were  de¬ 
stroyed — some  in  this  way,  some  by  slaughter,  some 
being  sent  to  death  elsewhere.”  1 

Allowing  that,  at  the  least  there  were  1,500,000 
Armenians  in  the  Turkish  empire  in  the  autumn  of 

i  Toynbee,  “Armenian  Atrocities,”  pp.  10-11.  This  quotation  is 
from  Lord  Bryce’s  report,  published  by  Hodder  and  Stoughton. 


314  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

1914,  the  government  could  draw  out  at  least  100,000 
soldiers — most  probably  she  did  draw  twice  as  many. 
These  soldiers  could  and  gladly  would  render  excel¬ 
lent  service  to  the  empire.  Their  loyalty  has  not 
been  suspected,  neither  has  their  fidelity  been  in  ques¬ 
tion.  What  a  criminal  folly  to  disarm  them,  what 
an  unpardonable  sin,  and  a  suicidal  act  to  massacre 
them.  But  that  is  what  the  Young  Turks  did.  They 
are  trying  to  get  rid  of  the  Christian  population  of 
Turkey  by  the  sword  and  fire  on  the  one  hand,  on 
the  other  hand,  they  v/ere  letting  the  Germans  take 
charge  and  have  control  of  the  army  and  navy  and 
make  the  Turkish  government  a  German  vassalage; 
and  yet  they  say  they  are  going  to  “have  Turkey  for 
the  Turks.” 

The  following  is  from  the  pen  of  Dr.  Herbert 
Adams  Gibbons,  who  tells  us  what  the  Armenian 
ex-soldiers  were  doing  and  how  they  were  treated  by 
the  government  which  they  were  serving: 

“In  the  autumn  of  1914,  the  Turks  began  to  mobilize 
Christians  as  well  as  Moslems  for  the  army.  For  six 
months,  in  every  part  of  Turkey  they  called  upon  the 
Armenians  for  military  service.  Exemption  money  was 
accepted  for  those  who  could  pay.  A  few  weeks  later 
the  exemption  certificates  were  disregarded,  and  their 
holders  enrolled.  The  younger  classes  of  Armenians, 
who  did  not  live  too  far  from  Constantinople,  were 
placed,  as  in  the  Balkan  wars,  in  the  active  army.  The 
older  ones,  and  all  the  Armenians  enrolled  in  the  more 
distant  region,  v/ere  utilized  for  road,  railway,  and  fort¬ 
ification  building.  Wherever  they  were  called,  and  to 
whatever  task  they  were  put,  the  Armenians  did  their 


The  Massacres  of  1915-16 


315 


duty  and  worked  for  the  defense  of  Turkey.  They 
proved  themselves  brave  soldiers  and  intelligent  and 
industrious  laborers.  .  .  . 

“.  .  .In  order  to  prevent  the  possibility  of  trouble 
from  Armenians  mobilized  for  railway  and  road  con¬ 
struction,  they  were  divided  into  companies  of  from 
three  to  five  hundred,  and  put  to  work  at  intervals  of 
several  miles.  Regiments  of  the  Turkish  regular  army 
were  sent  ‘to  put  down  the  Armenian  revolution/  and 
came  suddenly  upon  the  little  groups  of  workers  plying 
pickaxe,  crowbar,  and  shovel.  The  ‘rebels’  were  riddled 
with  bullets  before  they  knew  what  was  happening.  The 
few  who  managed  to  flee  were  followed  by  mounted  men, 
and  shot  or  sabred. 

“Telegrams  began  to  pour  in  upon  Talaat  Bey  at 
Constantinople,  announcing  that  here,  there,  and  every¬ 
where  Armenian  uprisings  had  been  put  down,  and  tele¬ 
grams  were  returned,  congratulating  the  local  officials 
upon  the  success  of  their  prompt  measures.  To  neutral 
newspaper  men  at  Constantinople,  to  neutral  diplomats, 
who  had  heard  vaguely  of  a  recurrence  of  Armenian 
massacres,  this  telegraphic  correspondence  was  shown  as 
proof  that  an  imminent  danger  had  been  averted.  ‘We 
have  not  been  cruel,  but  we  admit  having  been  severe/ 
declared  Talaat  Bey.  ‘This  is  war  time/  ”  1 

1  Gibbons,  "The  Blackest  Page  of  Modern  History, ”’pp,  17,  18,  21,  23, 
published  by  G.  P.  Putnam’s  Sons,  New  York,  1916. 


XIX 


THE  DEPOETATIOXS 

THE  second  act  was  far  more  diabolical  and 
hellish  than  the  first,  because  it  was  not  an 
instant  death  by  shooting  or  knocking  on  the 
head  with  an  axe,  or  sabring,  or  throwing  boat-loads 
of  human  beings  into  the  sea.  It  was  death  by  star¬ 
vation ,  by  rape ,  by  disease  and  by  a  slavery  far  worse 
than  all.  By  what  process  was  this  to  be  accom¬ 
plished  ?  By  deportation. 

By  the  help  of  the  sultan ,,  who  marshaled  his  hosts 
against  Heaven,  of  whom  John  Milton  wrote  cen¬ 
turies  ago,  the  arch  fiends  at  Constantinople  hatched 
out  this  plan  of  deportation  of  the  entire  Armenian 
population  to  Mesopotamia,  a  distance  of  from  300 
to  700  miles  away  from  the  Armenian  communities, 
©rders  came  from  the  central  government  at  Constan¬ 
tinople  to  the  local  authorities  in  the  provinces  of 
Asia  Minor  and  Armenia.  aThese  orders  were  ex¬ 
plicit  and  detailed.  Xo  hamlet  was  too  insignificant 
to  be  missed.  The  news  was  given  by  town  criers 
that  every  Armenian  was  toNbe  ready  to  leave  at  a 
certain  hour  for  an  unknown  destination.  There  were 
no  exceptions  for  the  aged,  the  ill,  the  women  in  preg¬ 
nancy.  Only  rich  merchants  and  bankers  and 
good-looking  women  and  girls  were  allowed  to  escape 

316 


The  Deportations  317 

by  professing  Islam ;  and  let  it  be  said  to  their  ever¬ 
lasting  honor  that  few  availed  themselves  of  this 
means  of  escape.” 

There  were  several  reasons  for  the  scheme  of  de¬ 
portation  :  one  of  them  was  the  helpless  women,  chil¬ 
dren,  the  ill  and  the  aged  men  were  still  menacing 
the  safety  of  the  empire!  Another,  and  the  most 
fundamental  reason  was  the  government’s  determina¬ 
tion  to  get  rid  of  the  Armenians  so  as  to  get  rid  of 
the  Armenian  question  once  for  all.  Still  another 
reason  was  that  the  homes  of  the  Armenians  were 
wanted  in  advance.  The  Moslem  refugees  from  Mace¬ 
donia  must  be  settled  in  the  provinces  which  were 
occupied  by  the  Armenians.  Another  reason  was  to 
show  how  the  association  of  the  Turk  with  the  highly 
cultured  and  civilized  nation,  the  German,  had  mol¬ 
lified  the  brutal  heart  of  the  Turk,  who  did  not,  and 
would  not  massacre  the  defenseless  women,  children, 
the  ill,  the  aged  men — for  such  stories  are  “fabrica¬ 
tions  !” 

We  reproduce  a  few  instances  of  these  stories 
which  the  Turkish  Ambassador — it  may  be  the  Ger¬ 
man  too — declares  are  “fabrications,  no  women  and 
children  have  been  killed.” 

“We  are  shocked  at  the  cruelties  perpetrated  in  these 
massacres.  Trenchant  pens  have  portrayed  the  horrors. 
Even  some  Germans  have  been  found  to  denounce  these 
massacres  and  to  accuse  the  infamous  ally  of  the  Teu¬ 
tonic  kaisers  of  the  most  terrible  cruelties.  Witness  the 
following  narative  which  I  quote  from  the  November, 
1915,  issue  of  the  Allegemeine  Missions  Z eitschrift, 
published  in  Berlin. 


818  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

“  ‘A  gendarme  related  to  ns,  in  such  details  as  to 
make  ns  shudder,  how  the  Turks  had  maltreated  a  group 
of  women  and  children,  who  were  driven  into  exile. 
They  slaughtered  the  Armenians  without  any  hindrance. 
Each  day  ten  or  twelve  men  are  hurled  down  into  the 
ravines.  They  crush  the  skulls  of  those  children  who 
are  too  weak  to  walk. 

“  ‘One  day,  early,  we  heard  the  procession  of  those 
doomed  victims.  Their  misfortune  was  indescribable. 
They  were  in  absolute  silence — the  young  and  old,  even 
grandfathers  advancing  under  such  burdens  as  even  their 
asses  could  hardly  carry.  All  were  to  be  chained  to¬ 
gether  and  then  precipitated  from  the  highest  summit 
of  a  steep  rock  into  the  torrent  of  the  Euphrates  river. 
This  froze  our  hearts.  Our  gendarme  tells  us  that  he 
had  driven  from  Mama-Khatoun  a  similar  group  of 
people,  composed  of  3000  women  and  children,  who  were 
exterminated. 

“  ‘On  the  30th  day  of  May,  674  Armenians  were 
embarked  in  13  sloops  on  the  Tigris.  Gendarmes  were 
in  each  embarkation.  These  sloops  departed  towards 
Mosul.  On  the  way  the  gendarmes  threw  all  the  unfor¬ 
tunates  into  the  river,  after  having  robbed  them  of  their 
money  and  clothing.  They  kept  the  money  and  sold 
the  clothing  in  the  markets. 

“  ‘An  employee  of  the  Bagdad  railway  related  that  the 
Armenians  were  imprisoned  wholesale  in  the  dungeons 
of  Biredjik  to  be  thrown  into  the  Euphrates  river  at 
night.  The  corpses  washed  on  to  the  river  banks  became 
a  prey  for  dogs  and  vultures.5 

“What  law  of  retaliation  could  ever  account  for  such 
abominable  crimes?  And  moreover,  what  price  must 
be  exacted  for  the  crimes  of  Kultur  in  Belgium,  France, 
Serbia  and  Armenia  ?”  1 

1  The  New  Armenia,  May  15,  1916,  New  York;  the  article  The  Martyr¬ 
dom  of  Armenia,  by  Paul  Perrin. 


The  Deportations  319 

There  was  no  possible  excuse  for  such  barbarities 
to  be  poured  upon  the  Armenians.  Had  there  been 
any  excuse  the  German,  American,  and  Swiss  mis- 
sionaries,  and  the  consuls  of  the  neutral  nations  who 
witnessed  these  atrocities  would  have  pointed  it  out. 
In  fact,  the  whole  civilized  world  stood  “with  shud¬ 
dering  horror  pale,  and  eyes  aghast”  at  the  unparal¬ 
leled  savagery  of  the  Turks,  except  those  who  were 
intoxicated  with  Prussian  militarism,  the  advocates 
and  defenders  of  the  booty-loving  and  obscene  Mo¬ 
hammedan  fiends. 

It  is  hardly  possible  to  imagine  to  oneself  the  impli¬ 
cation  of  such  a  decree  [of  deportation].  These 
[Armenians]  were  not  savages,  like  the  Re d  Indians 
who  retired  before  the  White  man  across  the  American 
continent.  They  were  not  nomadic  shepherds  like  their 
barbarous  neighbors  the  Kurds.  They  were  people  living 
the  same  life  as  ourselves,  townspeople  established  in  the 
town  for  generations  and  the  chief  authors  of  its  local 
prosperity.  They  were  sedentary  people,  doctors  and 
lawyers  and  teachers,  business  men  and  artisans  and 
shopkeepers,  and  they  had  raised  solid  monuments  to 
their  intelligence  and  industry.  Costly  churches  and 
well-appointed  schools.  Their  women  were  as  delicate, 
as  refined,  as  unused  to  hardships  and  brutality  as 
women  in  Europe  or  the  United  States.  In  fact,  they 
were  in  the  closest  personal  touch  with  Western  civili¬ 
zation,  for  many  of  the  Armenian  centers  upon  which 
the  crime  was  perpetrated  had  been  served  by  the  Amer¬ 
ican  missions  and  colleges  for  at  least  fifty  years,  and 
were  familiar  with  the  fine  men  and  women  who  directed 
them.”1 


1  Toynbee,  “Armenian  Atrocities,”  pp.  30-1. 


320  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

h 

The  government’s  determination  to  exterminate 
the  Armenian  race  was  not  a  sudden  impulse.  It  was 
a  deliberate  scheme  of  long  standing.  After  the  over¬ 
throw  of  the  Hamidian  despotism,  the  Young  Turks 
encouraged  the  Armenians  to  organize  societies  and 
even  permitted  them  to  possess  firearms.  Their  dia¬ 
bolical  purpose  was  not  suspected  by  the  trusting 
Armenians.  But  when  war  broke  out,  the  Turks 
joined  the  Teutons  in  hopes  to  share  the  rich  booty  of 
the  war.  When  this  was  not  forthcoming,  they  be¬ 
thought  that  the  opportune  moment  had  come  to  loot 
the  Armenians,  and  carry  out  the  plan  of  annihila¬ 
tion.  They  had  not  much  difficulty  in  making  out  a 
case  against  these  societies,  saying  that  they  were  of 
a  revolutionary  character;  and  their  possession  of 
firearms  was  taken  as  a  proof  of  the  same. 

Dr.  Gibbons  gives  in  his  excellent  little  book,  “The 
Blackest  Page  of  Modern  History,”  the  following 
statement  which  was  made  by  the  Turkish  Consul 
General  in  Hew  York:  “  ‘However  much  to  he  de¬ 
plored  may  he  these  harrowing  events,  in  the  last 
analysis  we  can  but  say  the  Armenians  have  only 
themselves  to  blame.’  Djelal  Munif  Bey  went  on  to 
explain  that  the  Armenians  had  been  planning  a  revo¬ 
lution,  and  were  killed  by  the  Turkish  soldiers  only 
after  they  had  been  caught  ‘red-handed  with  arms  in 
their  hands,  resisting  lawful  authority.’  ” 

In  Adabazar  500  leading  Armenians  were  ar¬ 
rested  and  imprisoned  in  the  Armenian  church.  They 
had  their  daily  tortures  and  beatings  to  induce  them 
to  implicate  one  another,  and  to  deliver  their  arms. 


The  Deportations  321 

Whether  they  were  all  the  members  of  a  society  or 
not  it  did  not  matter.  For  ten  days  these  men  have 
been  tortured,  and  the  whole  population  of  the  Ar¬ 
menians  some  20,000  or  more — were  terrorized  and 
paralysed.  Towards  the  end  of  this  time,  the  head 
of  the  society  who  have  been  an  exile  suddenly  re¬ 
turned.  At  the  trial — or  rather  at  the  Inquisition — 
he  boldly  answered :  “Why  do  you  punish  these  men  ? 
If  there  is  any  fault  it  is  mine,  and  yet  I  also  am 
guiltless.  This  society  was  organized  with  the  per¬ 
mission  of  the  Government .  Y ou  allowed  us  to  obtain 
firearms ” 

The  eye-witness  further  states  that  soon  after  this 
the  whole  Armenian  population  of  Adabazar  was 
“turned  into  the  streets  to  wait  their  turn  to  go. 
There  they  waited,  with  their  baggage,  for  days  by 
the  roadside  near  the  station.  As  soon  as  they  va¬ 
cated  their  houses,  refugees  (Mohammedans)  from 
Macedonia  took  possession  of  them.” 

aThe  people  who  had  any  money  went  to  Konia  by 
freight  cars,  being  allowed  to  take  only  a  few  posses¬ 
sions  with  them.  They  were  told  to  leave  their  posses¬ 
sions  in  the  churches  and  they  would  be  safeguarded, 
but  the  same  promise  had  been  made  in  Sabandja,  and 
the  church  had  been  looted  almost  before  the  people 
were  out  of  the  city;  so  nobody  trusted  this  promise. 
The  exiles  were  crowded  on  top  of  their  possessions, 
sixty  to  eighty  people  in  a  car  marked  forty  people. 

“From  Konia  they  were  to  go  by  foot  or  carriage 
to  a  desert  place  called  Mosul  (province)  in  Mesopo¬ 
tamia.  Those  who  had  no  money  must  take  the  entire 
journey  (about  1000  miles)  by  foot.” 


322  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

Here  is  a  portion  of  the  description  of  an  eye- 
witness : 

“Not  a  single  person  with  an  Armenian  name, 
whether  rich  or  poor,  old  or  young,  sick  or  well,  male 
or  female,  was  to  be  left  in  the  city.  They  were  to 
have  three  days  to  prepare  to  go.  .  .  .  The  promise 
of  three  days  was  not  kept.  The  very  next  morning 
the  local  police  with  gendarmes  well  armed  with  Manser 
rifles  began  to  enter  the  Armenian  houses  and  drive 
the  women  and  children  into  the  streets  and  lock  the 
doors  of  their  houses  behind  them  and  sealed  them  with 
the  government’s  seal,  thus  dispossessing  them  of  all 
their  worldly  possessions.  They  then  assigned  four  or 
five  persons  to  each  of  the  ox-carts  which  they  had 
brought  with  them  with  which  to  send  the  people  away. 
But  the  carts  were  not  intended  to  carry  the  people. 
They  had  to  walk  beside  them.  The  carts  were  for 
carrying  a  pillow  and  a  single  bed  covering  for  each 
person.  When  they  had  gotten  from  500  to  1000  per¬ 
sons  ready  in  this  manner  they  were  set  moving,  a  dole¬ 
ful  procession,  driven  by  gendarmes  along  the  roads 
toward  the  east.  Morning  after  morning,  during  the 
month  of  July  (1915)  we  saw  groups  of  this  kind  pass 
by  the  college  compound,  the  women  carrying  their 
babies  in  their  arms  and  leading  their  little  children 
by  the  hand,  without  anything  left  in  this  world,  start¬ 
ing  on  a  hopeless  journey  of  a  thousand  miles  into  the 
wilderness,  to  miserably  die  or  to  be  captured  by  Turks. 
By  the  end  of  July,  the  city  was  emptied  in  this  manner 
of  its  12,000  Armenian  population/' 

“At  the  mountain  village  of  Geben  the  women  were 
at  the  wash-tub  and  were  compelled  to  leave  their  wet 
clothes  in  the  water  and  take  the  road  barefooted  and 
half-clad,  just  as  they  were.  In  some  cases  they  were 
able  to  carry  part  of  their  scanty  household  furniture 


323 


The  Deportations 

or  implements  of  agriculture,  but  for  the  most  part  they 
were  neither  to  carry  anything  nor  to  sell  it,  even  where 
there  was  time  to  do  so.” 

“In  Hadjin  well-to-do  people  who  had  prepared  food 
and  bedding  for  the  road,  were  obliged  to  leave  it  in 
the  street,  and  afterwards  suffered  greatly  from  hunger.” 
“In  one  place  the  people  had  been  given  notice  to  depart 
on  Wednesday;  the  carts  appeared  on  Tuesday  at  3.30 
a.m.,  and  the  people  were  ordered  to  leave  at  once. 
‘Some  were  dragged  from  their  beds  without  even  suf¬ 
ficient  clothing/” 

The  kind-hearted  eye-witness  suffered  almost  as 
much  as  the  exiles.  Here  is  a  description : 

“The  weeping  and  wailing  of  the  women  and  children 
was  most  heartrending.  Some  of  these  people  were 
from  wealthy  and  refined  circles,  some  were  accustomed 
to  luxury  and  ease.  There  were  clergymen,  merchants, 
bankers,  mechanics,  tailors,  and  men  from  every  walk 
of  life.  The  whole  Mohammedan  population  knew  from 
the  beginning  that  these  people  were  to  be  their  prey, 
and  they  were  treated  as  animals.” 

Here  is  one  more  from  a  different  place : 

“All  the  morning  the  ox-carts  creaked  out  of  the 
town,  laden  with  women  and  children,  and  here  and 
there  a  man  who  had  escaped  the  previous  deportation. 
The  women  and  girls  all  wore  the  Turkish  costumes, 
that  their  faces  might  not  be  exposed  to  the  gaze  of  the 
drivers  and  gendarmes — a  brutal  lot  of  men  brought  in 
from  other  regions.  .  .  . 

“The  panic  in  the  city  was  terrible.  .  .  .  The  people 
were  sure  that  the  men  were  being  killed  and  the  women 
kidnaped.  Many  of  the  convicts  in  the  prisons  had 
been  released,  and  the  mountains  around  were  full  of 
bands  of  outlaws.  .  .  . 


324  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

“Most  of  the  Armenians  in  the  district  were  abso¬ 
lutely  hopeless.  Many  said  it  was  worse  than  a  mas¬ 
sacre.  No  one  knew  what  was  coming,  but  all  felt  that 
it  was  the  end.  Even  the  pastors  and  leaders  could 
offer  no  word  of  encouragement  or  hope.  .  .  .  Under 
the  severe  strain  many  individuals  became  demented, 
some  of  them  permanently.” 1 

Thousands  of  boys  and  girls  of  assimilable  age 
have  been  torn  away  from  the  bleeding  hearts  of  their 
parents,  and  sold  and  distributed  among  the  Moham¬ 
medans,  and  many  thousands  more  have  perished  by 
disease,  by  exhaustion,  by  starvation,  and  by  cruel 
murder. 

The  following  description  was  written  from 
Malatia : 

“Boys  under  ten  and  girls  under  fourteen  are  accepted 
here  as  orphans  (by  the  Mohammedans).  More  than 
800,  practically  all  from  Sivas  province,  are  here.  .  .  . 
Many  have  become  sick,  and  they  are  dying  off  pretty 
rapidly.  It  is  evident  that  many  will  die  on  the 
way.  ...” 

Another  report  says  that  the  dervishes ,  the  fanati¬ 
cal  Moslem  devotees,  met  the  caravans  of  the  deported 
Armenians  on  their  road  and  carried  off  children, 
shrieking  with  terror,  to  bring  them  up  as  Moslems 
in  their  savage  fraternity.  Here  another :  “Many  of 
the  boys  appear  to  have  been  sent  to  another  district, 
to  be  distributed  among  the  farmers.  The  best  look- 

1  A  repetition  of  a  case  which  is  reported  from  the  massacres  of  1909 
when  a  woman  who  had  seen  her  child  burnt  alive  in  the  village  church, 
answered  her  would-be  comforters:  “Don’t  you  see  what  has  happened? 
God  has  gone  mad.’!  Toynbee,  “Armenian  Atrocities,”  p.  38. 


The  Deportations  325 

ing  of  the  older  girls  are  kept  in  houses  for  the  pleas¬ 
ure  of  members  of  the  gang  who  seem  to  rule  affairs 
here.  ...” 

The  Armenian  journal  Horizon ,  of  Tiflis,  re¬ 
ported  in  its  issue  of  Aug.  22d  (old  style),  that: 

“A  telegram  from  Bukarest  states  that  the  Turks 
have  sent  from  Anatolia  (Asia  Minor)  four  railway- 
vans  full  of  Armenian  orphans  from  the  interior  of  the 
country,  to  distribute  them  among  Moslem  families. 

Some  were  sold  into  shame  before  the  march  began. 
‘One  Moslem  reported  that  gendarmes  had  offered  to  sell 
him  two  girls  for  a  medjikieh  (about  eighty  cents)/ 
They  sold  the  youngest  and  most  handsome  at  every  vil¬ 
lage  where  they  passed  the  night;  and  these  girls  have 
been  trafficked  in  hundreds  through  the  brothels  of  the 
Ottoman  Empire.  Abundant  news  has  come  from  Con¬ 
stantinople  itself  of  their  being  sold  for  a  few  shillings 
in  the  open  markets  of  the  capital;  and  one  piece  of  evi¬ 
dence  in  Lord  Bryce’s  possession  comes  from  a  girl  no 
more  than  ten  years  old,  who  was  carried  with  this 
object  from  a  town  of  North  Eastern  Anatolia  to  the 
shores  of  Bosphorus.  These  were  Christian  women,  as 
civilized  and  refined  as  the  women  of  Western  Europe, 
and  they  were  enslaved  into  degradation.”  1 

It  was  estimated  that  the  exiles  from  three  viliayets 
alone  numbered  about  600,000. 

“We  believe  there  is  imminent  danger  for  the  Sivas, 
Erzroom  and  Harpoot  viliayets  to  be  600,000  will  starve 
to  death  on  the  road.  They  took  food  for  a  few  days, 
but  did  not  dare  take  much  money  with  them,  as,  if 
they  did  so,  it  is  doubtful  whether  they  would  be  allowed 
to  keep  it.” 


1  Toynbee,  "Armenian  Atrooities,”  pp.  39,  40. 


326  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

We  must  now  follow  the  exiles  on  the  way  to  death 
and  destruction.  In  the  following  case  the  officers 
seem  to  think  it  not  worth  their  while  to  drive  so  few 
away ;  and  they  may  have  been  very  poor : 

“Forty-five  men  and  women  'were  taken  a  short  dis¬ 
tance.  The  women  were  first  outraged  by  the  officers 
of  the  gendarmerie,  and  then  turned  over  to  the  gen¬ 
darmes  to  dispose  of.  According  to  this  witness,  a  child 
was  killed  by  having  its  brains  beaten  out  on  a  nock. 
The  men  were  all  killed,  and  not  a  single  person  sur¬ 
vived  out  of  this  group  of  forty-five. 

“The  forced  exodus  of  the  last  part  of  the  Armenian 
population  from  a  certain  district  took  place  on  June 
1st,  1915.  All  the  villages  as  well  as  three-quarters 
of  the  town,  had  already  been  evacuated.  An  escort 
of  fifteen  gendarmes  followed  the  third  convoy,  which 
included  4000  to  5000  persons.  The  prefect  of  the  city 
had  wished  them  a  pleasant  journey.  But  at  a  few 
hours5  distance  from  the  town,  the  caravan  was  sur¬ 
rounded  by  bands  of  a  brigand-tribe,  and  by  a  mob 
of  Turkish  peasants  armed  with  guns,  axes,  and  clubs. 
They  first  began  plundering  their  victims,  searching 
carefully  even  the  very  young  children.  The  gendarmes 
sold  to  the  Turkish  peasants  what  they  could  not  carry 
away  with  them.  After  they  had  taken  even  the  food 
of  these  unhappy  people,  the  massacre  of  the  males 
began,  including  two  priests,  one  of  whom  was  ninety. 
In  six  or  seven  days  all  males  above  fifteen  years  of  age 
had  been  murdered. 

“It  was  the  beginning  of  the  end.  People  on  horse¬ 
back  raised  the  veils  of  the  women,  and  carried  off 
the  pretty  ones.55 

The  following  is  a  portion  of  a  detailed  descrip¬ 
tion  by  an  eye-witness,  who  was  in  the  company  on 


327 


The  Deportations 

the  inarch,  and  saw  the  third  batch,  above  mentioned, 
of  5000  to  melt  out  before  they  stopped  in  a  halting 
place  after  thirty-two  days: 

.  The  rest  of  the  population  was  sent  off  in 
three  batches ;  I  was  among  the  third  batch.  .  .  .  Onr 
party  left  on  June  1st  (old  style),  fifteen  gendarmes 
going  with  us.  .  .  .  Yery  many  women  and  girls  were 
carried  off  to  the  mountains,  among  them  my  sister, 
whose  one-year-old  baby  they  threw  away.  A  Turk 
picked  it  up  and  carried  it  off.  I  know  not  where. 
My  mother  walked  till  she  could  walk  no  further,  and 
dropped  by  the  roadside,  on  a  mountain  top.  We  found 
on  the  road  many  who  had  been  in  the  previous  batches ; 
some  women  were  among  the  killed,  with  their  husbands 
and  sons.  We  also  came  across  some  old  people  and 
infants  still  alive,  but  in  a  pitiful  condition.  .  .  . 

“We  were  not  allowed  to  sleep  at  night  in  the  vil¬ 
lages,  but  lay  down  outside.  Under  cover  of  the  night 
indescribable  deeds  were  committed  by  the  gendarmes, 
brigands  and  villagers.  Many  of  us  [the  company]  died 
from  hunger  and  strokes  of  apoplexy.  Others  were  left 
by  the  roadside  too  feeble  to  go  on. 

“The  worst  and  most  unimaginable  horrors  were  re¬ 
served  for  us  at  the  banks  of  the  (Western)  Euphrates 
and  the  Erzindjan  plain.  The  mutilated  bodies  of 
women,  girls  and  little  children  made  everybody  shudder. 
The  brigands  were  doing  all  sorts  of  awful  deeds  to  the 
women  and  girls  who  were  with  us,  whose  cries  went 
up  to  heaven.  At  the  Euphrates,  the  brigands  and  gen¬ 
darmes  threw  into  the  river  all  the  remaining  children 
under  fifteen  years  old.  Those  who  could  swim  were 
shot  down  as  they  struggled  in  the  water.” 

Miss  Mary  Louise  Graffam  secured  the  permission 
of  the  governor  of  Sivas  to  accompany  her  school 


328  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

girls  on  their  way  to  exile — supposedly — to  Mesopo¬ 
tamia,  but  actually  to  their  destruction.  After  about 
ten  days’  journey  she  was  not  permitted  to  go  any 
further.  At  Malatia,  where  she  had  to  give  up  her 
charge,  she  remained  a  few  days;  from  there  she 
wrote  a  letter  to  a  friend  in  Constantinople.  We 
reproduce  a  few  excerpts  from  her  letter. 

<rWhen  we  were  ready  to  leave  Sivas,  the  government 
gave  forty-five  ox-carts  for  the  Protestant  townspeople 
and  eighty  horses,  but  had  none  at  all  for  our  pupils  and 
teachers;  so  we  bought  ten  oxcarts,  two  horses,  arabas 
(wagons),  and  five  or  six  donkeys,  and  started  out. 
In  the  company  (of  2000)  were  all  our  teachers  in  the 
college,  about  twenty  boys  from  the  college,  and  about 
thirty  of  the  girls’  school.  It  was  a  special  favor  to  the 
Sivas  people,  who  had  not  don^  anything  revolution¬ 
ary  (?)  that  the  Vali  allowed  the  men  who  were  not 
yet  in  prison 1  to  go  with  their  families. 

.  .  We  were  so  near  Sivas  (the  first  night)  that 
the  gendarmes  protected  us  and  no  special  harm  was 
done;  but  the  second  night  we  began  to  see  what  was 
before  us.  The  gendarmes  would  go  ahead  and  have 
long  conversations  with  the  villagers,  and  then  stand 
back  and  let  them  rob  and  trouble  the  people  until  we 
began  to  scream  and  then  they  would  come  and  drive 
them  away.  Y organs  (blankets)  and  rugs  and  all  such 
things  disappeared  by  the  dozens  and  donkeys  were  sure 
to  be  lost.  Many  had  brought  cows,  but  from  the  first 
day  those  were  carried  off  one  by  one  until  not  a  single 
one  remained. 

“We  got  accustomed  to  being  robbed,  but  the  third 
day  a  new  fear  took  possession  of  us,  and  that  was  that 

1  There  were  about  1500  or  more  of  the  Armenians  in  prison  in  Sivas, 
waiting  to  be  massacred. 


r. 


329 


The  Deportations 

the  men  were  to  be  separated  from  ns  at  Kangal.  .  .  . 
At  Kangal  they  said  that  a  valley  near  there  was  full 
of  corpses.  Here  also  we  began  to  see  exiles  from  Tocat. 
The  sight  was  one  to  strike  horror  to  any  heart.  There 
were  a  company  of  old  women  who  had  been  robbed  of 
absolutely  everything.  At  Tocat  the  government  had 
first  imprisoned  the  men,  and  from  the  prison  had 
taken  them  on  the  road.1  The  preacher’s  wife  was  in 
the  company  and  told  us  the  story.  After  the  men 
were  gone  they  arrested  the  old  women  and  the  older 
brides.  There  were  very  few  young  women  or  children. 
All  the  younger  women  and  children  were  left  in  Tocat. 
Badvelli  (Rev.)  Avedis  has  seven  children.  One  was 
with  our  schoolgirls  and  the  other  six  remained  in  Tocat, 
without  father  or  mother  to  look  after  them.  For  three 
days  these  Tocat  people  had  been  without  food,  and  after 
that  lived  on  the  Sivas  Company,  who  had  not  yet  lost 
much. 

“.  .  .  The  next  day  we  heard  that  a  special  Kai- 
makam  had  come  to  Hassan  Chalebe  to  separate  the 
men.  .  .  .  But  we  encamped  and  ate  our  supper  in 
peace,  and  even  began  to  think  that  perhaps  it  was  not 
so,  when  the  mudir  came  around  with  gendarmes  and 
began  to  collect  the  men,  saying  that  the  Kaimakam 
wanted  to  write  their  names  and  that  they  would  be 
back  soon. 

“The  night  passed,  only  one  man  came  back  to  tell 
the  story  of  how  every  man  was  compelled  to  give  up 
all  his  money,  and  that  all  were  taken  to  prison.  The 
next  morning  they  collected  the  men  who  had  escaped 
the  night  before  and  extorted  forty-five  lires.  .  .  . 

“Broken-hearted,  the  women  continued  their  journey. 

1  The  men  at  Tocat,  like  those  in  many  other  places,  were  taken  on  the 
road  and  killed.  An  Armenian  soldier,  serving  in  the  Turkish  army  was 
captured  by  the  British  at  the  Dardanelles.  This  soldier  stated,  “  How  men 
of  Tocat  were  tied  together  in  groups  of  four  and  taken  100  at  a  time  to 
the  marshy  districts  for  massacre.'! 


330  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

.  .  .  The  mudir  said  the  men  had  gone  back  to  Sivas. 
The  villagers  whom  we  saw  all  declared  that  all  those 
men  were  killed  at  once.  .  .  . 

“As  soon  as  the  men  left  ns  the  Turkish  drivers  began 
to  rob  the  women,  saying,  ‘You  are  all  going  to  be 
thrown  into  the  Tokma  Su,  so  you  might  as  well  give 
your  things  to  us  and  then  we  will  stay  by  you  and  try 
to  protect  you/  Every  Turkish  woman  that  we  met 
said  the  same  thing.  The  worst  were  the  gendarmes, 
who  really  did  more  or  less  bad  things.  One  of  the 
schoolgirls  was  carried  off  by  the  Kurds  twice,  but  her 
companions  made  so  much  fuss  that  she  was  brought 
back.  I  was  on  the  run  all  the  time  from  one  end  of 
the  company  to  the  other.  .  .  . 

“As  we  approached  the  bridge  over  the  Takma  Su,  it 
was  certainly  a  fearful  sight.  As  far  as  the  eye  could 
see  over  the  plain  was  this  slow-moving  line  of  ox-carts. 
For  hours  there  was  not  a  drop  of  water  on  the  road 
and  the  sun  poured  down  its  very  hottest.  As  we  went 
on,  we  began  to  see  the  dead  from  yesterday’s  company 
and  the  weak  began  to  fall  by  the  way.  The  Kurds 
working  in  the  fields  made  attacks  continually  and  we 
were  half-distracted.  I  piled  as  many  as  I  could  on  our 
wagons,  our  pupils,  both  boys  and  girls,  worked  like 
heroes.  One  girl  took  a  baby  from  its  dead  mother 
and  carried  it  until  evening.  Another  carried  a  dying 
woman  until  she  died.  I  counted  forty-nine  deaths,  but 
there  must  have  been  many  more.  One  naked  body  of 
a  woman  was  covered  with  bruises.  I  saw  the  Kurds 
robbing  the  bodies  of  these  not  yet  entirely  dead.  .  .  . 

“The  hills  on  each  side  were  white  with  Kurds  who 
were  throwing  stones  on  the  Armenians,  who  were 
slowly  wending  their  way  to  the  bridge.  I  ran  ahead 
and  stood  on  the  bridge  in  the  midst  of  a  crowd  of 
Kurds  until  I  was  used  up.  .  .  .  After  crossing  the 
bridge,  we  found  all  the  Sivas  people  who  had  left 
before  us,  waiting  by  the  river,  as  well  as  companies 


The  Deportations  331 

from  Samsoun  (a  city  on  the  Black  Sea),  Amasia,  and 
other  places. 

“My  friends  here  (in  Malatia)  are  very  glad  to  have 
me  with  them,  for  they  have  a  very  difficult  problem  on 
their,  hands,  and  are  nearly  crazy  with  the  horrors  they 
have  been  through  here.  The  mutessarif  and  other 
officials  here  and  at  Sivas  have  again  and  again  read  me 
orders  from  Constantinople  to  the  effect  that  the  lives 
of  these  exiles  are  to  be  protected,  and  from  their  actions 
I  should  judge  that  they  must  have  received  such 
orders  ;x  but  they  certainly  have  murdered  a  great  many 
in  every  city.  Here  there  were  great  trenches  dug  by 
the  soldiers  (for  the  purpose  beforehand)  for  drilling 
purposes.  How  these  trenches  are  all  filled  up,  and  our 
friends  saw  carts  going  back  from  the  city  by  night. 
A  man  I  know  told  me  that  when  he  was  out  to  inspect 
some  work  he  was  having  done,  he  saw  a  dead  body  which 
had  evidently  been  pulled  out  of  one  of  these  trenches, 
probably  by  dogs.  .  .  .  The  Beledieh  Reiz  here  says 
that  every  male  over  ten  years  old  is  being  murdered, 
that  not  one  is  to  live,  and  no  woman  over  fifteen.”  2 
Miss  Graff am’s  letter  was  dated  Aug.  7,  1915,  at 
Malatia ;  not  a  word  has  been  heard  from  the  com¬ 
pany  of  2000  exiles,  whom  she  so  heroically  defended 
until  her  separation  from  them  near  Malatia.  The 
author's  sister  and  brothers,  and  their  families  were 
in  this  company.  The  probability  is  that  all  have 
perished  by  this  time,  if  not  massacred  soon  after 
their  guardian  angel  left  them. 


i  These  local  officials  receive  two  orders  from  the  central  government: 
the  one  to  be  shown  to  the  neutrals,  the  other  to  deal  with  the  Armenians. 
The  latter  order  is  to  kill  the  Armenians  in  any  manner  they  please. 

*  The  Missionary  Herald,  Deo.,  1915.  Boston,  Mass. 


XX 


CAMPS  OF  REFUGE 

WE  have  been  looking  only  at  the  physical 
sufferings  of  these  people.  Terrible  as 
they  have  been  who  could  realize  or 
imagine  the  spiritual,  the  mental  agony  of  those 
refined  souls,  who  have  seen  day  by  day  the  fiendish 
deeds  more  abominable  than  the  tortures  and  mas- 
macres  ?  “The  spiritual  torment  could  perhaps  only 
be  fathomed  by  actual  experience.” 

We  could  not  think  that  in  the  second  decade  of 
the  20th  century  a  small  “gang  of  unscrupulous 
ruffians”  could  and  did  defy  the  laws  of  humanity 
and  decency;  and  still  be  permitted  to  continue  to 
practice  such  barbarities  in  the  face  of  an  outraged 
human  conscience.  Indeed,  if  these  were  not  well 
established  facts,  we  would  not  believe  them. 

There  are  two  reasons  why  the  Young  Turks  still 
continue  their  practice  of  barbarity  and  abomina¬ 
tions  :  the  first  is  that  they  are  defended  by  the  great¬ 
est  military  powers,  the  Teutonic  arms;  the  second 
is  the  indifference  of  the  neutral  states.  The  United 
States  was  first  “too  proud  to  fight”  for  the  suffer¬ 
ing  humanity.  And  again,  “With  the  causes  and 
issues  of  this  war  we  have  no  concern.”  Some  Amer- 

332 


Camps  of  Refuge  333 

ican  missionaries  have  died  as  the  result  of  their 
ill-treatment  by  the  Turks.  American  properties 
worth  several  millions  were  seized  and  occupied  by 
the  Turkish  government  and  the  missionaries  com¬ 
pelled  to  leave  the  country.  One  of  these  missionaries 
writes : 

“I  have  received  the  farewell  kiss  and  parting  em¬ 
brace  of  men,  cultured  Christian  gentlemen,  some  of 
whom  held  university  degrees  from  our  best  American 
institutions  in  this  country;  men  with  whom  I  have 
co-operated,  and  at  whose  sides  I  have  labored  for  ten 
years  in  the  work  of  education  in  that  land,  while  at 
their  sides  stood  brutal  gendarmes,  sent  there  by  the 
highest  authorities  of  the  Government  to  drive  them 
with  their  wives  and  children  away  from  their  homes, 
from  their  work,  and  from  all  the  associations  which 
they  held  most  dear,  into  exile  or  to  death ;  some  of  them 
to  a  condition  worse  than  either.  We  had  no  better 
friends  in  this  world  than  those  people.  To  part  with 
them  under  such  circumstances  was  harder  than  I  can 
say,  and  yet  but  few  tears  were  shed  on  either  side. 
Our  feelings  were  too  deep  for  idle  tears !  I  have  often 
seen  pictures  of  the  early  Christian  martyrs  crouching 
together  in  the  arena  of  the  Coliseum  expecting  any 
moment  to  be  torn  to  pieces  by  the  hungry  lions  which 
were  being  turned  loose  upon  them,  while  the  eager 
spectators  were  watching  from  their  safe  seats,  and 
waiting  to  be  amused  by  that  spectacle.  And  I  had  sup¬ 
posed  that  such  cruelties  and  such  amusements  were 
impossible  in  this  twentieth  Christian  century;  but  I 
was  mistaken.  I  have  seen  sixty-two  Armenian  women 
and  girls  between  the  ages  of  fifteen  and  twenty-five, 
huddled  together  in  the  rooms  of  the  principal  of  our 

American  Girls’  School  at  - ,  while  outside  were 

waiting  men  more  cruel  than  beast,  ready  to  carry  them 


334  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

off;  and  who  backed  by  the  highest  authorities  of  the 
Government,  were  demanding  that  we  should  deliver 
these  defenseless  girls  into  the  hands  of  these  brutal 
men  to  do  with  them  what  they  would.  I  have  supposed 
that  there  was  no  man  in  the  world  to-day  who  could  be 
amused  by  such  a  spectacle  as  that.  In  this,  too,  I  was 
mistaken;  for  when  the  wife  of  our  American  Ambas¬ 
sador  at  Constantinople  made  a  personal  appeal  to 
Talaat  Bey,  the  Minister  of  the  Interior  in  the  Turkish 
cabinet,  the  man  who  more  than  any  one  else  has  de¬ 
vised  and  executed  this  deportation  of  the  Armenians, 
and  who  has  boasted  that  he  has  been  able  to  destroy 
more  Armenians  in  thirty  days  than  Abdul  Hamid  was 
able  to  destroy  in  thirty  years — when  she  made  an 
appeal  to  this  Turkish  Minister,  begging  him  to  stop 
this  cruel  persecution  of  Armenian  women  and  girls, 
only  answered,  ‘All  this  amuses  us.?  ”  1 

The  absurdity  of  the  Turkish  excuses  that  the 
Armenians  were  preparing,  or  intending  to  revolt  is 
plainly  seen  by  the  following  instances:  In  places 
where  the  people  knew  the  object  of  the  government 
was  to  massacre  them,  they  resisted  the  government 
and  the  authorities  had  no  difficulty  in  subduing 
them.  The  Turks  had  indeed  a  better  excuse  for 
massacre  and  the  people  their  choice  of  an  immedi¬ 
ate,  instead  of  a  lingering,  death. 

When  the  people  of  Shabin  Karahussar,  a  town 
about  100'  miles  southwest  of  Trebizond,  were  ordered 
to  prepare  for  deportation,  they  took  up  arms,  and 
defended  themselves  against  the  Turkish  troops  from 
the  middle  of  May  to  the  end  of  June.  Then  the 

i“  Don’t  let  me  be  told  that  one  nation  has  no  authority  over  another. 
Every  nation,  ay,  every  human  being  has  authority  in  behalf  of  humanity 
and  justice.” — Gladstone. 


335 


Camps  of  Refuge 

Turks,  with  more  reinforcements  and  artillery,  had 
no  difficulty  in  overwhelming  them.  They  massacred 
not  only  about  4000  people  who  had  taken  arms  to 
defend  themselves,  hut  also  the  entire  population  of 
the  country  districts,  anot  excepting  the  bishop  him¬ 
self.  Nothing  could  show  better  than  this  how  little 
the  Turkish  government  had  to  fear  from  the  Arme¬ 
nians,  and  how  eagerly  it  seized  upon  the  quickest 
means  to  their  extermination,  as  soon  as  an  oppor¬ 
tunity  appeared.” 

The  reader  will  remember  the  Reubenian  Dynasty 
in  Cilicia  which  came  to  an  end  in  1375.  From  that 
time  to  the  present  many  Armenians  remained  in 
Cilicia.  The  Armenians  who  lived  in  the  Cilician 
mountains  were  a  sort  of  semi-independent  tribe. 
They  were  not  rebellious,  but  they  exerted  their  rights 
often  by  the  force  of  arms.  This  year  of  crimes  had 
included  in  its  plans  to  crush  this  people  also.  The 
Turkish  government  “without  waiting  to  summon 
them  for  deportation,  at  once  attacked  them  nakedly 
with  the  sword.”  It  is,  moreover,  stated  that  “they 
were  disarmed,  by  the  promise  that,  if  they  sub¬ 
mitted,  their  defenseless  brethren  in  the  lowland  vil¬ 
lages  would  be  ransomed  from  destruction  by  their 
act.  The  Turkish  promise  was  broken,  of  course, 
as  soon  as  the  Turkish  object  was  secured;  and  taken 
at  such  a  disadvantage,  the  heroic  mountaineers  in¬ 
evitably  succumbed.” 

“The  bloody  curtain  has  fallen  over  Zeitoun,  and  the 
fighting  stock  of  these  brave  mountaineers  has  been 
subdued  in  this  memorable  year  of  crime !  As  the  faith- 


336  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

ful  followers  and  remnants  of  the  Renbenian  dynasty, 
they  had  hitherto  kept  their  homes  intact  and  had  suc¬ 
cessfully  withstood  the  Turkish  inroads.  They  have 
at  last  been  overcome  by  heavy  Turkish  forces,  and  the 
stronghold  of  Zeitoun  is  now  in  the  hands  of  the 
enemy.  .  . 

It  was  begun  on  the  8th  of  April  and  finished  about 
the  end  of  May,  1915.  The  Turks  massacred  some 
of  the  inhabitants.  .  .  .  And  the  rest,  with  the 
old  men  and  women,  were  deported  to  Mesopotamia. 

The  fate  of  the  people  of  Sassoun  was  not  quite 
known  for  some  time.  But  the  Turks  and  Kurds 
have  finally  completely  exterminated  them  also. 

Both  in  Constantinople  and  in  the  districts  nearby, 
the  Armenians  have  been  thinned  out,  and  in  some 
towns  they  have  been  cleared  out  to  make  room  for 
the  Mohammedan  refugees  from  Thrace  and  Mace¬ 
donia. 

“The  Turks  are  continuing  their  work  of  exterminat¬ 
ing  the  Armenians.  From  Constantinople  they  have 
deported  the  Armenian  men.  Ten  thousand  deported 
men  have  already  been  massacred  in  the  mountains  of 
Ismid. 

“Four  districts  have  been  cleared  of  Armenians :  Bos¬ 
nian  Mouhadjirs  (refugees)  replace  the  Armenians  thus 
exiled.  .  .  . 

“More  than  20,000  Armenians  that  have  been  forced 
to  emigrate  from  a  certain  province,  are  being  thrown 
into  the  deserts  amid  nomadic  tribes,  leaving  their 
houses,  gardens  and  tilled  lands  to  the  Turkish  mou¬ 
hadjirs.  .  .  . 

“As  soon  as  the  Armenian  refugees  left  their  houses, 

1  Toynbee,  “Armenian  Atrocities,”  pp.  71-2. 


337 


Camps  of  Refuge 

mouhadjirs  from  Thrace  took  possession  of  them.  The 
former  had  been  forbidden  to  take  anything  with  them, 
and  they  themselves  saw  all  their  goods  pass  into  other 
hands.  There  must  be  about  20,000  to  25,000  in  this 
town  now,  and  the  name  of  the  town  seems  to  have  been 
changed  to  a  Turkish  one.”1 

Four  thousand  and  two  hundred  Armenians  were 
almost  miraculously  saved  in  the  following  manner: 
When  the  orders  came  to  about  half  a  dozen  villages 
near  Antioch  for  them  to  prepare  for  deportation  the 
inhabitants,  knowing  the  purpose  of  the  government, 
held  a  meeting  and  decided  to  resist  the  orders.  One 
pastor  dissented  and  with  his  flock  of  about  sixty 
families  was  deported;  nothing  has  been  heard  from 
that  party  since.  The  rest  hastened  to  gather  all 
available  provisions,  ammunition  and  arms  and  drove 
their  herds  and  cattle  into  the  mountain  west  of 
Antioch  on  the  Mediterranean  shore.  Here  they  had 
the  sea  behind  them  for  protection.  On  the  land  side, 
they  protected  every  possible  approach  to  the  moun¬ 
tain,  and  with  some  modern  weapons  and  old  flint¬ 
locks,  they  were  ready  to  defend  themselves.  They 
had  some  good  swimmers  on  the  shore  watching  for 
some  friendly  ship  which  they  could  petition  for  help. 
They  also  set  up  two  large  white  flags,  one  with  a 
red  cross  in  the  center,  and  the  other  with  these 
words,  “ Christians  in  distress — Rescue  !”  They  were 
surrounded  on  the  land  side  by  3000  regular  soldiers 

1  Toynbee,  "Armenian  Atrocities,”  pages  78-80. 

See  fuller  accounts  in  "The  Treatment  of  Armenians  in  the  Ottoman 
Empire,  1915-16.  Documents  presented  to  Viscount  Grey  by  Visoount 
Bryce.”  London. 


338  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

of  the  Turkish  army,  and  about  15,000  Turkish  mobs 
of  Aleppo  and  Antioch  slums.  They  had  a  very  slim 
chance  of  escaping  annihilation,  and  this  chance  was 
in  their  heroic  defense.  On  the  53d  day  of  their 
siege,  when  their  food  and  ammunition  was  almost 
exhausted,  the  French  cruiser  Guicher  sighted  the 
cross  and  drew  near;  the  swimmers  hastened  and 
bore  the  message  to  it.  Other  ships  were  called  by 
wireless,  and  the  whole  refugees  were  taken  off  and 
transported  to  Port  Said,  Egypt.  They  thus  saved 
their  lives  by  their  bravery,  and  saved  also  the  Turks 
from  some  more  shame  and  sin. 

The  Young  Turks’  plan  to  exterminate  the  Arme¬ 
nian  race  was  cunningly  complete  from  the  beginning 
to  the  end.  The  three  different  stages  or  steps  by 
which  they  hoped  to  finish  the  work  are  now  clear. 
In  the  first  stage,  knowing  that  the  able-bodied  men 
would  survive  the  horrors  of  deportation,  or  at  least 
most  of  them  would,  so  in  order  to  hasten  the  end, 
they  were  massacred ;  in  the  second  stage,  they  were 
sure  that  delicate  women  and  children  could  not  stand 
the  horrors  of  deportation  on  foot  over  the  rugged 
mountains  and  deep  valleys  under  the  burning  sun, 
half  naked,  and  without  food  and  water,  so  they  con¬ 
signed  the  largest  number  of  the  Armenians  to  such 
a  process  of  death  and  destruction.  This  procedure, 
moreover,  would  give  to  their  representatives,  whether 
German  or  Turkish,  at  the  courts  of  the  neutral 
powers,  the  right  to  say  that  the  Turks  are  not  kill¬ 
ing  the  women  and  children.  Yet  they  were  not  un¬ 
mindful  of  the  possibility  of  their  disappointment  by 


339 


Camps  of  Refuge 

the  survival  of  some  even  from  this  process  of  death. 
Thus  we  have  the  third  stage  for  the  unfortunate 
survivors.  These  survivors,  mostly  women  and  chil¬ 
dren,  make  up  the  “agricultural  colonies.” 

The  annihilation  of  the  Armenian  race  being  the 
aim  of  the  government,  we  must  surely  expect  the 
selection  of  such  places  as  will  accomplish  their  pur¬ 
pose.  We,  unfortunately,  do  not  fail  in  this  expec¬ 
tation.  One  such  called  Sultanieh,  in  the  province 
of  Konia,  is  a  veritable  desert,  south  of  Tuz  Gul 
(Salt  Lake).  At  this  place,  “a  thousand  families 
of  Armenian  townspeople,  assembled  by  weary 
marches  from  every  quarter,  were  given  a  taste  of 
the  wilderness,  a  thousand  families,  and  only  fifty 
grown  men  among  them  to  provide  for  the  needs  of 
this  helpless  flock  of  women,  children  and  invalids 
flung  thus  suddenly  upon  their  own  resources,  in  an 
environment  as  abnormal  to  them  as  it  would  be  to 
the  middle-class  population  of  any  town  in  England 
or  France.”  Having  established  this  “agricultural 
colony”  on  the  waste,  the  government  was  content, 
and  troubled  itself  about  its  colonies  no  more. 

“But  Sultanieh  was  by  no  means  the  worst  of  the 
charnel-house  to  which  the  remnant  of  the  Armenian 
race  was  consigned.”  The  most  of  the  refugees  were 
sent  to  Aleppo  (Halep),  the  seat  of  Northern  Syria. 
The  Armenians  who  were  living  in  Asia  Minor  and 
Armenia  were  used  to  a  temperate  climate,  but  the 
climate  in  lower  Mesopotamia  and  Syria  is  semi- 
tropical,  and  the  places  to  which  the  survivors  of  the 
deportation  have  been  consigned  are  considered  “some 


340  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

of  the  most  sultry  regions  on  the  face  of  the  earth.” 
A  day’s  journey  from  Aleppo  southeastward  the 
traveler  reaches  a  swampy  region.  “ These  swamps 
were  allotted  to  the  first  comers;  but  they  did  not 
suffice  for  so  great  a  company,  and  the  later  hatches 
were  forwarded  five  days’  journey,  on  to  the  town  of 
Der-el-Zor,  the  capital  of  the  next  province  down  the 
course  of  the  Euphrates,  where  the  river  takes  its 
way  towards  the  Persian  Gulf  through  the  scorching 
steppes  of  the  Arabian  amphitheater. 

“This  amphitheater  has  witnessed  many  ghastly 
dramas  in  its  day,  but  none,  perhaps,  more  ghastly  than 
the  tragedy  that  is  being  enacted  in  it  now,  when  its 
torrid  climate  is  being  inflicted  as  a  sentence  of  death 
upon  the  Armenians  deported  thither  from  their  tem¬ 
perate  homes  in  the  north.” 

There  is  one  more  thing  to  be  noted,  namely,  that 
these  survivors  of  the  deportation  have  not  only  a 
torrid  climate  as  “a  sentence  of  death”  to  suffer  and 
die  thereby,  but  they  have  also  a  new  set  of  tor¬ 
mentors,  the  Arabs,  who  are  more  wicked  and  fanat¬ 
ical  than  the  Turks  and  Kurds,  because  they  are, 
besides  being  Mohammed’s  followers,  akin  to  him 
in  blood  and  race.  Moreover,  these  poor  refugees  are 
not  even  left  at  Der-el-Zor.  The  latest  information 
comes  from  there  that  the  refugees  have  to  move 
further  southeast.  “The  misery  among  the  people 
is  not  to  be  described.  All  are  making  things  ready 
for  the  journey;  all  are  breaking  up  the  tents;  Der- 
el-Zor  is  as  destroyed,  by  the  general  upheaval.  They 
say  we  will  be  sent  to  the  bank  of  the  river  Chebar. 


341 


Camps  of  Refuge 

I  pray  God  that — like  he  did  for  Ezekiel — so  now 
He  make  this  place  a  blessing.  Our  joy  will  be  to 
do  His  will.” 

It  may  be  sufficient  to  reproduce  a  few  extracts 
from  the  reports  of  eye-witnesses  of  the  scenes  in  the 
refugee  camps.  In  regard  to  the  condition  of  the 
refugees  at  Sultanieh,  we  have  very  little  informa¬ 
tion,  the  reason  for  this  having  been  thus  stated: 
“A  sum  of  money  has  been  sent  from  Constantinople 
to  the  Catholikos  of  Cilicia  who  is  now  at  Aleppo, 
witnessing  the  misery  and  agony  of  his  flock.  Here 
at  least,  authorities  allow  the  distribution  of  succor 
to  those  unfortunates.  At  Sultanieh  it  has  so  far 
proved  impossible  to  bring  help  within  their  reach, 
for  the  government  refuses  permission,  in  spite  the 
efforts  of  the  American  embassy.” 

“I  have  just  returned,  November  16,  1915,  from  a 
ride  on  horseback  through  Baghche  Osmanie  Plain, 
where  thousands  of  exiles  are  lying  upon  the  fields  and 
streets,  without  any  shelter,  exposed  to  the  depredations 
of  all  kinds  of  brigands.  Last  night,  at  about  twelve 
o’clock,  a  little  camp  of  from  fifty  to  sixty  persons 
was  suddenly  attacked.  I  found  men  and  women  badly 
wounded,  with  broken  skulls,  their  bodies  cut  upon,  or 
in  a  terrible  condition  from  knife  stabs.  Fortunately, 
I  was  provided  with  linen,  so  that  I  could  change  their 
bloody  clothing.  Then  I  brought  them  to  the  nearest 
inn  where  they  could  be  nursed.  Many  of  them  were 
so  exhausted  from  the  great  loss  of  blood  that  they 
died. 

“In  another  camp  we  found  from  thirty  to  forty 
thousand  Armenians.  I  was  able  to  distribute  some 
bread  among  them.  Desperate  and  half  starved,  they 


342  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

fell  upon  it;  several  times  I  was  almost  unseated  from 
my  horse.  A  great  many  dead  were  lying  about  un¬ 
buried,  and  only  through  bribes  could  the  gendarmes 
be  persuaded  to  permit  their  burial.  Generally  the  Ar¬ 
menians  are  not  allowed  to  perform  the  last  offices  of 
love  for  their  relatives.  Bad  epidemics  of  typhoid  fever 
had  broken  out  everywhere;  a  patient  lay  in  almost 
every  third  tent. 

“Nearly  everything  was  transported  on  foot;  men, 
women,  and  children  carried  their  few  belongings  on 
their  backs.  I  often  saw  them  collapse  under  their  bur¬ 
den,  but  the  soldiers  kept  on  driving  them  forward  with 
their  bayonets.  I  have  dressed  bleeding  wounds  of 
women  that  resulted  from  these  bayonet  thrusts.  Many 
children  lost  their  parents.  .  .  .  Three  hours  from 
Osmanie,  two  dying  men  were  there  for  days  without 
any  food  or  even  a  drop  of  water.  .  .  .  They  were  as 
thin  as  skeletons.  .  .  .  Unburied  women  and  children 
were  lying  in  the  ditches.  .  . 

“I  visited  the  camp  of  Islahie  on  the  first  of  Decem¬ 
ber,  1915.  It  had  rained  for  three  days  and  three  nights. 
...  As  soon  as  the  weather  permitted,  I  set  out  on 
my  way  to  the  exiles’  camp.  About  200  families  had 
been  left  behind  at  Mamouret,  being  unable  to  proceed 
on  account  of  misery  and  illness  .  .  .  the  rags  of 
their  beds  did  not  have  a  single  dry  thread  in  them. 
Many  women  had  their  feet  frozen — they  were  entirely 
black  and  ready  to  be  amputated.  The  wailing  and  the 
groaning  was  heart-rending.  Everywhere  the  dead,  and 
the  dying  in  their  last  agonies,  lay  about  before  the 
tents.  Only  by  baksheesh  (bribes)  could  the  soldiers 
be  persuaded  to  bury  them. 

“The  whole  carriage  was  packed  with  bread;  I  just 
kept  on  distributing  all  the  time.  Three  or  four  times 
there  was  an  opportunity  to  buy  some  fresh  bread.  These 
thousands  of  loaves  were  a  great  help  to  us. 


343 


Camps  of  Refuge 

aThe  camp  Islahie  itself  is  the  saddest  thing  I  have 
ever  seen.  Eight  at  the  entrance  a  heap  of  dead  bodies 
lay  unbnried.  I  counted  thirty-five;  and  in  another 
place  twenty-two;  right  close  by  were  the  tents  of  those 
people  who  were  down  with  bad  dysentery.  In  one 
single  day  the  burial  commission  buried  as  many  as  580 
dead.  For  weeks  many  camps  have  been  daily  supplied 
with  bread.  Of  course,  everything  has  to  be  done  as 
clandestinely  as  possible.  .  .  .” 1 

An  eye-witness  at  Aleppo  says: 

“  .  .  .  On  August  2  (1915),  about  eight  hundred 
middle-aged  and  old  women,  accompanied  by  children 
under  the  age  of  ten  years,  arrived  afoot  from  Diyar- 
bekir,  after  forty-five  days  en  route.  They  were  in  the 
most  pitiable  condition  imaginable.  They  report  the 
taking  of  all  the  young  women  and  girls  by  the  Kurds, 
the  pillaging  even  of  the  last  bit  of  money  and  other 
belongings  and  scenes  of  starvation,  or  privation,  and 
hardship  of  every  description.  I  am  informed  that  4500 
persons  were  sent  from  Sughurt  to  Kas-el-Ain,  over 
2000  from  Mezereh  to  Diyarbekir,  and  that  all  the  cities 
of  Bitlis,  Mar  din,  Mosul,  Severeh,  Malatia,  Besneh,  etc., 
have  been  depopulated  of  Armenians ;  the  men  and  boys, 
and  many  of  the  women  killed  and  the  balance  scattered 
throughout  the  country.  .  .  .  The  Governor  of  Der- 
el-Zor,  who  is  now  at  Aleppo,  says  there  are  15,000 
Armenians  in  his  city.  Children  are  frequently  sold 
to  prevent  starvation,  as  the  government  furnished 
practically  no  subsistence.” 

I  quote  the  following  from  Toynbee : 

“We  have  a  detailed  account  of  what  is  happening  at 
Der-el-Zor,  from  a  particularly  trustworthy  source — • 

1  Report  of  Sister  Paula  Schafer,  a  Swiss  missionary  from  Basle.  I 
quote  from  The  New  Armenia,  N.  Y.,  June  1,  1916, 


344  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

the  testimony  of  Fraulein  Beatrice  Rohner,  a  Swiss 
missionary  from  Basle.  Fraulein  Rohner  has  person¬ 
ally  witnessed  the  sufferings  of  the  Armenians  at  Der- 
el-Zor,  and  has  published  her  description  of  them  in  the 
‘Sonnenaufgang’  (Sunrise),  the  organ  of  the  ‘Deutscher 
Hilfsbund  fur  Christliches  Liebeswerk  in  Orient’  (Ger¬ 
man  League  of  Help  for  Work  of  Christian  Charity  in 
the  East).  Here  are  some  extracts  from  her  narrative: 

“At  Der-el-Zor,  a  large  town  in  the  desert,  about  six 
days’  drive  from  Aleppo,  we  saw  a  big  khan,  all  the 
rooms,  the  roof  and  the  verandahs  of  which  were  crowded 
with  Armenians,  mostly  women  and  children,  with  a  few 
old  men.  They  had  slept  on  their  blankets  wherever 
they  could  find  any  shade.  .  .  .For  these  mountain¬ 
eers  the  desert  climate  is  terrible.  On  the  next  day  I 
reached  a  large  Armenian  camp  of  goatskin  tents,  but 
most  of  the  unfortunate  people  were  sleeping  out  in  the 
sun  on  the  burning  sands.  The  Turks  had  given  them 
a  day’s  rest  on  account  of  the  large  number  of  sick. 
It  was  evident  from  their  clothing  that  these  people 
had  been  well-to-do ;  they  were  natives  of  Geben,  another 
village  near  Zeitoun,  and  were  led  by  their  religious 
head.  It  was  a  daily  occurrence  for  five  or  six  of  the 
children  of  these  people  to  die  by  the  wayside. 

“On  the  next  day  I  met  another  camp  of  these  Zei¬ 
toun  Armenians.  There  were  the  same  indescribable 
sufferings,  the  same  accounts  of  misery — ‘why  do  they 
not  kill  us  once  for  all?’  asked  they.  "For  days  we 
have  no  water  to  drink,  and  our  children  are  crying  for 
water.  At  night  the  Arabs  attack  us;  they  steal  our 
bedding;  our  clothes  that  we  have  been  able  to  get 
together;  they  carry  away  by  force  our  girls  and  out¬ 
rage  our  women.  If  any  of  us  are  unable  to  walk,  the 
convoy  of  gendarmes  beat  us.  Some  of  our  women 
threw  themselves  down  from  the  rocks  into  the  Eu¬ 
phrates  in  order  to  save  their  honor — some  of  these  with 
their  infants  in  their  arms.’  ” 


Camps  of  Refuge 


345 


The  German  missionaries,  who  have  been  wit¬ 
nessing  these  terrible  cruelties,  have  made  a  protest 
to  their  foreign  office.  This  protest  was  signed  by 
the  following  persons:  Director  Huber,  Dr.  Hiepage, 
Dr.  Graetner,  and  M.  Spieler,  who  constituted  the 
faculty  of  the  German  High  School  at  Aleppo,  Tur¬ 
key.  A  copy  of  this  protest  and  a  letter  from  Dr. 
Graetner  were  secured  by  the  Hew  York  Times  and 
were  published  in  its  issue  of  September  20th,  1916. 
We  quote  the  following  extracts: 

“We  feel  it  our  duty  to  call  the  attention  of  the 
foreign  office  to  the  fact  that  our  school  work,  the  for¬ 
mation  of  a  basis  of  civilization  and  instilling  of  respect 
in  the  natives  will  be  henceforward  impossible  if  the 
German  Government  is  not  in  a  position  to  put  an  end 
to  the  brutalities  inflicted  here  on  the  exiled  wives  and 
children  of  murdered  Armenians.  In  face  of  the  hor¬ 
rible  scenes  which  take  place  daily  near  our  school 
buildings,  before  our  very  eyes,  our  school  work  has 
sunk  to  a  level  which  is  an  insult  to  all  human  senti¬ 
ments.  .  .  . 

“Girls,  boys,  and  women,  all  practically  naked,  lie  on 
the  ground  breathing  their  last  sighs  amid  the  dying 
and  among  the  coffins  put  out  ready  for  them.  Forty 
to  fifty  people  reduced  to  skeletons  are  all  that  is  left 
of  the  2000  to  3000  healthy  peasant  women  driven  down 
here  from  Upper  Armenia.  The  good-looking  ones  are 
decimated  by  the  vice  of  their  gaolers,  whilst  the  ugly 
ones  are  victimized  by  beatings,  hunger,  and  thirst. 
Even  those  lying  at  the  water’s  edge  are  not  allowed 
to  drink.  Europeans  are  prohibited  from  distributing 
bread  among  them.  More  than  a  hundred  corpses  are 
taken  out  daily  from  Aleppo.  All  this  is  taking  place 


346  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

before  the  eyes  of  highly  placed  Turkish  officials.  Forty 
to  fifty  people  reduced  to  skeletons  are  lying  heaped 
up  in  a  yard  near  our  school.  They  are  practically 
insane  and  have  forgotten  how  to  eat.  If  one  offers 
them  bread  they  push  it  indifferently  aside.  They  utter 
low  groans  and  await  death.  Ta-a-lim  el  almon  (the 
cult  of  the  Germans)  is  responsible  for  this,  the  natives 
declare.  It  will  always  remain  a  terrible  stain  on  Ger¬ 
many’s  honor  among  the  generations  to  come. 

“  .  .  .  Perhaps  the  German  people,  too,  are  igno¬ 
rant  of  these  events.  How  would  it  be  possible  other¬ 
wise  for  the  usually  truth-loving  German  press  to  report 
the  humane  treatment  of  Armenians  accused  of  high 
treason?  But  it  may  be  that  the  German  government’s 
hands  are  tied  by  reason  of  certain  contracts.  .  .  . 
Every  cultured  human  being  is  competent  to  intervene, 
and  it  is,  in  fact,  his  sacred  duty  to  do  so.  Our  esteem 
among  the  generations  to  come  is  at  stake.  The  more 
refined  Turks  and  Arabs  shake  their  heads  sorrowfully 
when  they  see  brutal  soldiers  bringing  convoys  through 
the  town  of  women  far  advanced  in  pregnancy,  whom 
they  beat  with  cudgels,  these  poor  wretches  being  hardly 
able  to  drag  themselves  along.”  1 

Dr.  Edward  Graetner’s  letter  was  dated  July  7, 
1916,  and  was  written  from  Basle,  Switzerland,  to 
a  German  theologian  in  a  neutral  country : 

“I  am  going  to  tell  you  more  about  the  Armenian 
episode,  for  this  time  the  question  was  not  one  of  the 
traditional  massacres,  but  of  nothing  more  or  less  than 
the  complete  extermination  of  the  Armenians  in  Tur¬ 
key.  This  fact  Talaat  Bey’s  Turkish  officials  cynically 
admitted  with  some  embarrassment  to  the  German  Con- 

1  This  protest  was  under  date  October  8,  1915.  These  good  men  suf¬ 
fered  for  their  protest.  When  Dr.  Neipage  returned  to  Germany,  he  was 
arrested  by  his  Government  and  imprisoned  for  six  months. — Author. 


347 


Camps  of  Refuge 

sul.  The  government  first  made  out  that  they  only 
wanted  to  clear  the  war  zone  and  to  assign  new  dwellings 
to  the  emigrants. 

“They  began  by  enticing  the  most  warlike  of  the 
mountaineers  out  of  their  rocky  fastnesses.  This  they 
did  with  the  help  of  the  securities  [promises]  of  the 
Turkish  Empire,  of  the  heads  of  their  own  churches, 
of  the  American  missionaries  and  of  one  German  con¬ 
sul.1  Thereupon  began  expulsions  from  everywhere, 
even  from  districts  to  which  the  war  will  never  be  car¬ 
ried.  How  these  were  affected  is  shown  from  the  fact 
that  out  of  the  18,000  people  driven  out  of  Harpoot 
and  Sivas  only  350  reached  Aleppo,  and  only  eleven  out 
of  the  1900  from  Erzerum.  Once  at  Aleppo  the  poorest 
of  these  were  by  no  means  at  the  end  of  their  troubles. 
Those  who  did  not  die  here  (the  cemeteries  are  full) 
were  driven  by  night  to  the  Syrian  steppes,  toward  the 
Zor  on  the  Euphrates.  Here  a  very  small  percentage 
drag  out  their  existence,  threatened  by  starvation.  I 
state  this  as  an  eye-witness.  I  was  there  in  October 
of  last  year  and  saw  with  my  own  eyes  several  Armenian 
corpses  floating  in  the  Euphrates  and  lying  about  the 
steppes. 

“The  Germans,  with  a  number  of  laudable  exceptions, 
witnessed  these  things  quite  unperturbed,  holding  out 
the  following  excuse:  ‘We  just  need  the  Turks,  you  see  V 
I  know  for  a  fact,  moreover,  that  an  employee  of  the 
German  Cotton  Association  and  one  of  the  Bagdad 
railway  were  forbidden  to  help  the  Armenians.  German 
officers  have  also  raised  a  complaint  against  their  consul 
for  his  sympathy  with  the  Armenians,  and  a  German 
teacher,  although  most  capable,  was  not  appointed  to 
a  school  of  the  Turco-German  Association,  on  account  of 

1  See  page  335.  The  Turkish  Government  promised  the  Zeitoun  people 
their  security  from  attack,  and  persuaded  them  to  give  up  their  arms, 
and  used  the  influence  of  the  Armenian  clergy  and  foreign  missionaries  and 
a  German  consul. — Author. 


348  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

his  having  an  Armenian  wife.  They  are  afraid  that  the 
Turks  might  take  offense  at  this.  The  Turks  are  less 
considerate.  ‘The  question  is  one  of  a  Turkish  internal 
affair,  we  must  not  mix  ourselves  up  in  it!’  This  is 
what  one  constantly  hears  people  say.  Once  it  was  a 
question,  however,  of  persuading  the  Armenians  to  yield, 
they  did  mix  themselves  up  in  it ! 

“The  Armenians  of  Urfa,  seeing  the  fate  which  had 
befallen  their  compatriots  from  other  districts,  refused 
to  leave  their  city  and  offered  resistance.  Thereupon  no 
less  a  person  than  Count  Wolf  von  Walfskehl  ordered 
the  town  to  be  bombarded,  and  after  the  surrender  of 
1000  Armenian  men  he  had  not  the  power  to  prevent 
their  being  massacred.” 1 

The  poor  refugees  are  on  the  move  all  the  time, 
from  privation  to  starvation,  from  pest-hole  to  pest¬ 
hole.  We  quote  the  following  from  two  different 
quarters  of  the  country  which  tell  the  same  tale: 

“The  Turk,  if  he  is  now  asked  what  he  is  doing  with 
the  Armenians,  simply  replies,  he  is  deporting  them. 
The  town  of  Kessab  has  been  completely  emptied.  .  .  . 
All  had  been  deported  to  places  where  they  are  sure  to 
die,  even  the  Home  was  not  exempt  this  time,  the  gov¬ 
ernment  ordering  the  deportation  of  the  children  to 
Aleppo.  This  was  protested  against  but  the  protest 
amounted  to  little,  and  the  children  were  finally  taken 
on  a  four  days’  wearisome  journey  over  mountain  and 
valley  to  Aleppo,  one  of  our  workers  (Miss  Louisa  Stahl) 
accompanying  them  that  far,  and  paying  sufficient  money 
to  a  native  pastor  to  look  after  them  while  she  returned 
to  Kessab  to  talk  over  matters  with  the  others. 

“Some  time  afterwards  it  ‘was  learned  that  the  dear 
pastor  in  whose  hands  the  money  was  entrusted  was  not 


1  The  New  Armenia,  Oct.  1,  1916.  New  Yorkx  reprinted. 


349 


Camps  of  Refuge 

permitted  by  the  authorities  to  have  anything  to  do 
with  the  children,  and  they  were  transferred  to  the 
building  in  which  they  were  housed  to  another  building 
where  they  were  sure  to  be  infested  with  disease,  and 
this  so  happened,  and  the  majority  of  them  [about  36 
out  of  39]  succumbed  to  the  privations  and  to  death.”1 

“The  misery  and  hopelessness  of  the  situation  are  such 
that  many  are  reported  to  resort  to  suicide.  In  illustrat¬ 
ing  the  methods  employed,  report  is  made  of  the  gather¬ 
ing  of  a  group  of  one  hundred  children  whom  they 

placed  in  care  of  an  educated  young  widow  from - . 

Two  weeks  later  those  children  were  deported,  and  from 
two  survivors  found  further  down  the  caravan  route  it 
was  learned  that  the  rest  had  perished.  The  house¬ 
mother,  crazed  by  this  treatment  of  her  charges,  was 
among  the  deported  who  were  moving  on.  Boatloads 

sent  from  -  down  the  river,  arrived  at  - , 

- miles  away,  with  three-fifths  of  the  passengers  miss¬ 
ing.  There  appears,  in  short,  a  steady  policy  to  exter¬ 
minate  these  people,  but  to  deny  charge  of  massacre. 
Their  destruction  from  so-called  natural  causes  seems 
decided  upon.”2 

In  conclusion,  let  us  state  a  few  facts:  The  exter¬ 
mination  of  two  millions  of  innocent,  “loyal  to  a 
fault,”  Christian  subjects  of  the  Sultan  of  Turkey 
was  planned  at,  and  ordered  from,  Constantinople. 
This  crime  has  been  committed.  The  young  Turks 
have  proved  themselves  unfit  to  rule  even  under  a 
constitution.  The  Turkish  government  has  forfeited 
its  right  to  exist  as  a  government.  She  has  been 
weighed  and  found  wanting.  The  Young  Turks 

*  “  God’s  Dealing,”  August,  1916.  The  Christ's  Homepaper,  Phila¬ 
delphia  and  Warminster,  Pa. 

*  The  Missionary  Herald ,  September,  1916.  The  American  Board’s 
monthly  paper. 


350  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

would  not  have  dared  to  commit  this  awful  crime,  if 
this  horrible  war  had  not  been  brought  about.  Even 
after  the  war  broke  out,  they  hesitated  until  they 
were  dragged  into  the  war.  Then  those  who  are 
responsible  for  this  war,  and  those  who  dragged  the 
Turkish  government  into  the  conflict,  must  share 
the  crime  of  the  Turk.  Again,  the  governments 
which  had  the  sole  influence  over  the  unspeakable 
Turk  to  stop  him  from  his  barbarities,  but  did  not 
for  fear  of  offending  him,  or  for  other  consideration 
are  accessories  to  his  crime. 

Again,  in  spite  of  the  horrors  of  this  World-War 
and  the  greatest  calamity  which  ever  fell  upon  the 
loyal  and  innocent  Armenians,  men,  women,  and  chil¬ 
dren,  there  are  some  positive  signs  that  the  dawn  of 
liberty  is  at  hand.  That  soon  will  the  morning  light 
break  upon  the  suffering  humanity.  There  is  the 
liberation  of  175,000,000  Russians  from  the  tyranny 
of  autocracy.  Here  America’s  inexhaustible  sources 
of  wealth  and  power,  both  material  and  moral,  are 
also  thrown  against  the  Tur co-Teutonic  barbarism. 
That  100,000,000  peace-loving  Americans  finally 
have  been  forced  by  the  enemies  of  mankind  to  de¬ 
clare  by  their  leader  and  head,  President  Wilson: 
“We  enter  this  War  only  where  we  are  clearly  forced 
into  it,  because  there  are  no  other  means  of  defending 
our  rights.  .  .  . 

“It  is  a  fearful  thing  to  lead  this  great,  peaceful 
people  into  War — into  the  most  terrible  and  dis¬ 
astrous  of  all  Wars,  civilization  itself  seeming  to  be 
in  the  balance. 


Camps  of  Refuge  351 

“But  the  right  is  more  precious  than  peace,  and  we 
shall  fight  for  the  things  which  we  have  always  car¬ 
ried  nearest  our  hearts — for  democracy,  for  the  right 
of  those  who  submit  to  authority  to  a  voice  in  their 
own  governments,  for  the  rights  and  liberties  of  small 
nations,  for  a  universal  dominion  of  right  by  such 
a  concert  of  free  peoples  as  shall  bring  peace  and 
safety  to  all  nations  and  make  the  world  itself  at  last 
free. 

“To  such  a  task  we  can  dedicate  our  lives  and  our 
fortunes,  everything  that  we  are  and  everything  that 
we  have,  with  the  pride  of  those  who  know  that  the 
day  has  come  when  America  is  privileged  to  spend 
her  blood  and  her  might  for  the  principles  that  gave 
her  birth  and  happiness  and  the  peace  which  she  has 
treasured.  God  helping  her,  she  can  do  no  other.” 

Within  the  last  few  months  some  changes  have 
taken  place  which  injures  the  cause  of  the  Entente 
and  will  endanger  the  lives  of  many  Christians. 

The  revolution  in  March  (1917)  in  Russia  was  a 
great  rejoicing  for  the  lovers  of  freedom.  But  when 
some  extreme  Socialists  claimed  self-assumed  author¬ 
ity  as  the  deputies  of  the  Socialistic  Council  of  Sol¬ 
diers  and  Workmen  and  seized  the  Provisional  gov¬ 
ernment  and  set  up  the  Bolshevik  reign  by  violence 
in  November,  they  did  not  think  that  they  were 
depriving  themselves  of  the  fruits  of  the  revolution 
and  democracy.  And  when  they  were  intent  to  give 
peace  to  the  war-worn  nations  of  the  world  that  they 
did  neither  think  of  their  inability  nor  the  Teutonic 
duplicity.  And  when  their  delegates  met  with  the 


352  Armenia:  A  Martyr  Nation 

delegates  of  the  Germanic  Allies  in  peace  confer¬ 
ence  in  January  (1918),  then  they,  for  the  first 
time,  learned  that  they  had  to  submit  to  the  victor’s 
terms  or  fight.  But  to  fight  was  impossible.  They 
had  already  demoralized  stoid  demobilized  the  Rus¬ 
sian  army.  The  German  forces  began  their  advance 
into  Russia  at  once.  The  Bolshevik  delegates,  who 
had  broken  off  the  conference  and  refused  to  sign 
the  treaty,  hurried  hack  and  signed  it  in  February. 

Accordingly  the  Russian  armies  are  vacating 
Turkish  Armenia,  which  they  had  occupied  since 
the  summer  of  1915.  Russia  has  also  to  return  to 
Turkey  her  former  conquests  in  Armenia.  Thus 
about  1,500,000  Russian  Armenians  and  300,000 
Armenian  refugees  from  Turkey  are  to  be  exposed 
to  the  Turco-Teutonic  outrages  and  massacres.  It 
is  the  most  gloomy  outlook.  Yet  God  still  reigns. 

‘Ye  fearful  Saints,  fresh  courage  take; 

The  clouds  ye  so  much  dread 
Are  big  with  mercy,  and  shall  break 
In  blessings  on  your  head. 

“Judge  not  the  Lord  by  feeble  Sense, 

But  trust  Him  for  His  Grace; 

Behind  a  frowning  providence 
He  hides  a  smiling  face. 

“Blind  unbelief  is  sure  to  err, 

And  scan  His  work  in  vain; 

God  is  His  own  Interpreter, 

And  He  will  make  it  plain.” 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


- 


DATE  DUE 

M  AV  1  0  1Q£ 

MAY 

|||Bnyf|-VV. 

r - - 

TBif  i  iWlfciar  iraia  ri> nirrii 7  r  1 

HIGHSMITH  # 

45230 

Print»d 
in  USA 

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